An\>  rnt 


wmT  mim 


W.'M'^Mn^iiijfiR 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


JL  Ob 


K'^(L' 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/discoveriesinsouOOwlieeiala 


DISCOVERIES 

IN 

SOUTH  AMERICA 

AND 

WEST  INDIES 


BY 
W.  W.  WHEELER 

ACTTHOK  0F"TH«EE   MONTHS  IN   FOHEIOX   LARDS" 

"a  Glimpse  or  the  Pacific  Ikles"  and 
"Encirclixo  the  Olobe" 

vriT*  oxE  hundred  and  tm-elve  HAr.F-TONE  cuts  of  the  most  BT. A.VnrV'L, 

VIEWS    IN    THE    SOCTHEHN    PART    OF   THIS    HEMISPHERE 


CUPYKIUUTKP    1011 

Bt   W.  ^V.  WHERLKR 


INDEX 


Page 

Pernambuco    7 

Sao  Paulo : . 11 

Santos    19 

Montevedio    21 

Argentina    27 

Across  the  Andes   45 

Santiago .  . 55 

Valparaiso     61 

Magellan  Strait  73 

Punta  Arenas   75 

Rio  Janeiro   81 

Bahia    107 

Para    115 

Brazil    119 

St.  Thomas  125 

San  Juan,  Porto  Rico 127 

Jamaica   137 

Kingston 139 

Panama  Canal  147 

La  Guayra,  Venezuela  157 

Caracas 159 

Venezuela    161 

Trinidad    165 

Barbados    173 

St.  Pierre,  Martinique  .  .  ... ;.....' 175 

Dominica 177 

Santo  Domingo   181 

Santiago  de  Cuba  183 

Havana    ........: 187 

Nassau    195 


EXPLANATORY. 

As  to  the  name  of  this  Httle  book,  we  do  not  claim  to  be 
the  first  discoverers  of  this  part  of  the  world.  Columbus  and 
other  early  navigators  did  that,  four  hundred  years  ago,  and 
they  are  entitled  to  the  thanks  of  mankind  for  their  efforts, 
but  we  discovered  many  things  which  the  early  navigators 
did  not  see.  They  never  discovered  the  "Panama  Canal,"  or 
the  greatest  cities  of  the  southern  half  of  the  world,  or  the  first 
great  railway  across  the  Andes,  and  many  other  things,  which 
the  lapse  of  time  has  brought  into  view.  Therefore,  we  think 
we  have  the  best  of  them  in  the  discoveries. 

Recently  a  friend  said  to  me,  "while  you  are  away  on 
these  delightful  journeys,  do  you  ever  think  of  us,  who  would 
be  so  pleased  to  make  these  trips  with  you,  if  our  circumstances 
permitted?"  We  certainly  do  think  of  you  every  day  while 
away,  and  for  that  reason  have  made  these  photographs  and 
notes  of  what  we  saw,  that  we  might  impart  to  our  friends 
as  much  of  the  pleasure  of  making  the  trip  as  possible,  and 
we  hope  ycju  may  find  the  following  pages  entertaining  and 
instructive. 

Yours  very  sincerely. 

\V.  \\\  WHEELER. 


1482075 


PERXAMBUCO 

We  made  a  short  visit  to  this  city  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  people  on  February  2nd,  191 1.  It  is  a  pretty 
place,  with  two  canals  running  north  and  south,  and  a  shel- 
tered harbor,  which  makes  it  look  somewhat  like  a  X'enice.  It 
is  sometimes  called  "The  X'enice  of  Brazil,"  although  the 
tropical  trees,  flowers  and  fruit  gave  it  a  much  more  beautiful 
appearance  than  the  Italian  city.  The  Holland  Dutch  took 
this  place  from  the  Portuguese  in  163 1,  and  held  it  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  e\en  now  there  are  traces  of  their  visit  in  the 
glazed  tiled  buildings,  and  the  fair  complexion  of  a  few  of 
the  natixes.  The  color  of  these  people  is  \aried,  ranging  from 
Dutch  white  to  African  negro.  The  majority  being  brown, 
of  the  Portuguese  type,  and  they  all  si)eak  the  Portuguese 
language.  We  arrixed  on  a  Holy  ])ay,  not  Sunday,  and  saw 
a  large  gathering  at  a  church  to  christen  an  infant.  The 
many  little  girls  were  beautifully  dressed  in  white,  and  made 
a  very  pretty  show,  Init  their  faces  .sliowed  a  mixture  of  the 
different  races.  The  temperature  here  is  almost  always  warm, 
being  only  eight  degrees  south  of  the  I'>f|uator.  Still  it  never 
gets  extremely  hot :  the  usual  register  is  from  80  to  85  ;  it  was 
84  when  we  were  there,  and  a  good  sea  breeze  made  it  {|uite 
pleasant.  W'c  had  here  our  first  experience  with  Pjrazilian 
money.  Phe  currency  used  here  is  called  "Reis."  The  paper 
bills  are  handsomely  engraxed,  and  printed  in  denominations 
of  5,000,  10,000.  and  20.000  Reis.  rnid  siKer  300  and  i.ooo 
Reis.  and  small  coins  in  nickel.  l*'or  Si  5.00.  we  bought 
^j.ooo  Reis.  When  we  had  such  a  large  number  of  Reis. 
we  felt  like  a  millionaire,  until  we  came  to  spend  it.  then  it 
runs  out  so  rapidly.     .\  street  car  ride  costs  200  Reis:  the  c:ir- 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


PERNAMBUCO 

riage  hire  is  6,000  Reis  per  hour.  In  paying  it  out,  we  felt 
like  we  were  becoming  bankrupt  very  rapidly;  1,000  Reis  in 
paper  or  silver  is  worth  thirty-two  cents  in  our  money.  Per- 
nambuco  is  expending  eight  million  dollars  (gold)  in  im- 
providing  her  harbor  and  main  streets.  The  break-water  is  a 
stone  wall  built  on  a  natural  coral  reef,  about  four  hundred 
yards  from  the  dock,  and  forms  a  fairly  good  harbor  for  half 
a  mile  along  the  city  front.  This  harbor  is  being  made  deep 
and  a  fine  stone  dock  is  being  built.  The  buildings  along  the 
city  front  are  being  torn  down,  and  a  wide  Avenida  will  be 
built,  also  two  wide  Avenidas  will  radiate  to  the  two  large 
bridges  which  cross  the  canals.  When  this  is  done  the  city 
will  present  a  fine  appearance  and  will  be  very  convenient  for 
loading  and  shipping  large  exports  of  sugar  and  cotton.  This 
is  the  largest  sugar  exporting  city  in  South  America,  and 
considerable  cotton  is  also  shipped  out  from  here.  One  large 
steamer  loaded  with  cotton  for  the  English  market  was  just 
sailing  as  we  entered  the  harbor.  This  port  is  fifth  in  rank 
in  amount  of  exports  from  Brazil ;  there  were  six  steamers 
and  about  thirty  sailing  vessels  in  the  harbor  when  we  were 
there.  The  streets  are  narrow,  but  many  small  parks  with 
beautiful  tropical  vegetation  make  the  appearance  of  the  city 
pleasing  in  spots.  The  street  cars  are  moved  by  mule  power, 
two  men  are  required,  one  to  drive  and  one  to  weild  the 
whip.  We  saw  but  one  beggar,  and  he  was  a  fellow  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  a  poor  drunken  hobo.  It  seems  we 
are  represented  by  a  few  of  that  class  in  nearly  every  foreign 
port  of  the  world.  We  met  the  Secretary  of  the  Local  Y.  M. 
C.  A..  Mr.  John  H.  Warner,  of  Dayt(^n.  Ohio,  a  very  pleas- 
ant gentleman.  He  gave  us  a  cheerful  report  of  the  work 
of  the  association  here.  He  has  been  here  three  years,  and 
the  association  now  have  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  mem- 
bers, and  are  having  a  healthy  growth,  but  they  still  have 
much  opposition. 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


SAO  PAULO. 


Sao  Paulo,  where  we  visited  February  6th,  is  the  second 
city  in  Brazil,  having  a  population  of  over  four  hundred  thou- 
sand; they  claim  seven  hundred  thousand.  Situated  fifty 
miles  from  its  sea  port  of  Santos,  and  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  it  was  a  great  surprise  to  us.  It  is  a  clean, 
well  sewered  city,  with  fine  wide  Avenidas.  beautiful  parks — 
one  of  the  wealthiest  cities  in  South  America,  and  a  pleasant 
place  for  a  residence.  There  are  seventy-five  miles  of  first- 
class  electric  street  railways  in  Sao  Paulo.  We  took  a  trolley 
ride  over  nearly  the  whole  system  and  saw  the  city  in  all 
parts;  great  improvement  is  now  going  on.  W'e  were  told 
by  the  superintendent  of  the  street  railway,  that  there  are 
now  being  built  fifteen  hundred  handsome  residences  each 
year.  The  city  looks  so  new ;  it  has  the  appearance  of  being 
built  yesterday,  and  the  building  is  still  going  on  at  a  great 
rate.  There  are  miles  of  broad  Avenidas  which  are  lined 
on  both  sides  with  homes  that  cost  from  twenty  to  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  each.  They  are  built  of  concrete, 
plastered  on  the  outside  with  cement,  colored  a  pale  yellow 
tint,  some  with  pale  blue  tint ;  very  handsome  architectural 
style,  with  spacious  grounds.  On  some  of  the  porches  are 
beautiful  frescos,  painted  on  the  outside  walls,  making  a 
pretty  picture  to  be  seen  from  the  street ;  these  beautiful  resi- 
dence sections  look  very  pleasing  to  the  traveler.  W'e  in- 
spected the  new  opera  house,  built  by  the  city  at  a  cost  of 
five  million  gold :  for  architectural  style  and  artistic  beauty 
it  is  not  e(|ualed  in  the  United  States,  and  very  seldom  in 
Europe.  It  is  not  quite  finished,  but  will  be  ready  for  use  in 
a  month:  the  ground  occupied  is  e(|ual  to  three  ordinary  city 
blocks.  The  grand  staircase  is  a  copy  of  the  staircase  in  the 
(irand  Oi)era  House  at  Paris.  I'rance.  There  is  a  small  i)ark 
adjoim'ng  this  grand  ojx'ra  house  and  the  city  is  about  to  con- 
demn and  tear  down  two  blocks  of  buildings  in  the  centra! 
part  to  make  a  larger  and  more  beautiful  city  park.     These 

1 1 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


C3 

pq 

3 
o 

Q 

O 

< 

W 


SAO   PAULO 

people  do  not  hesitate  to  spend  millions  for  improving  and 
beautifying  their  city.  The  passenger  railway  station  is  also 
well  worthy  of  mention.  It  is  larger  and  better  than  any  in 
the  United  States,  with  three  or  four  exceptions ;  built  of  steel 
and  concrete,  entirely  fire-proof,  very  commodious  and  hand- 
some. We  do  not  think  there  is  sufficient  passenger  traffic 
at  present  to  justify  such  a  great  railway  station.  The  lan- 
guage of  all  Brazil  is  Portuguese,  but  the  greater  number  of 
the  residents  of  Sao  Paulo  are  Italians,  or  of  Italian  descent, 
and  the  language  mostly  spoken  here  is  Italian.  In  all  this 
great  and  rapidly  growing  city,  there  is  not  a  hotel  fit  for  a 
white  man  to  dwell  in.  We  had  intended  to  stay  over  night 
here,  but  after  viewing  two  hotels,  which  they  called  the  best, 
we  decided  to  return  to  our  quarters  on  the  ship.  It  is  said 
that  a  grand  new  hotel,  to  cost  eleven  million  dollars  gold, 
will  soon  be  built  here  by  a  Swiss  hotel  company,  and  it  is 
certainly  greatly  needed.  This  rapidly  growing  city  is  en- 
tirely caused  by  the  coffee  industry  of  Brazil.  Over  ninety 
million  dollars  worth  of  coffee  is  shipped  through  Sao  Paulo, 
and  its  seaport  Santos,  per  year,  being  eight-tenths  of  all  the 
coffee  used  in  the  world.  Sao  Paulo  is  the  market  for  the 
coffee  districts  of  Brazil,  being  situated  where  the  tempera- 
ture is  pleasant  and  mild ;  many  of  the  wealthiest  coffee  grow- 
ers are  making  their  homes  here.  The  consumption  of  coffee 
throughout  the  world  has  doubled  in  the  last  ten  years,  and 
the  industry  here  has  increased  accordingly.  Another  thing 
which  has  done  much  for  the  increase  of  Sao  Paulo  is  the 
building  of  the  Sao  Paulo  railroad  to  Santos;  this  railroad  is 
entitled  to  a  separate  chapter  of  description. 

The  Sao  Paulo  Raihcay  Company  a  few  years  ago  ob- 
tained a  charter  to  build  this  road  to  Santos,  thus  giving  Sao 
Paulo  practically  a  .seaport.  Heretofore  all  transjxirtation 
was  done  on  the  backs  of  donkeys,  mules  and  horses,  by  pack 
trains.    The  charter  of  this  railroad  company  requires  them  to 

13 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


SAO   PAULO 

pay  over  to  the  state  all  net  earnings  in  excess  of  a  fixed 
amount,  (some  told  us  7  per  cent  and  some  12  per  cent)  per 
annum.  As  they  have  had  an  immense  traffic,  their  earnings 
have  been  enormous,  and  for  above  reasons  have  been  spent 
in  improvements.  The  road  was  built  with  a  solid  concrete 
road-bed  and  an  endless  steel  wire  cable,  used  to  climb  the 
mountain;  thickness  of  the  cable  is  1%  inches.  This  cable 
line  extends  for  about  ten  miles,  and  in  that  distance  they 
climb  the  mountains,  rising  three  thousand  feet.  The  cables 
are  driven  by  four  steam  power  plants  located  along  the  lines 
about  every  two  and  one-half  miles.  The  trains  are  small 
and  light,  with  a  light  engine,  having  enough  steam  power 
to  handle  the  brakes,  and  move  the  cars  a  short  distance  in 
case  of  accident.  The  down  trains  help  pull  the  up  trains,  as 
all  are  gripped  to  the  heavy  endless  cable;  there  are  a  very 
few  short  tunnels  and  one  high  steel  trestle.  For  almost  the 
entire  mountain  section,  where  the  cables  are  used,  each  side 
of  the  track  has  a  gutter  built  with  rock  and  cement,  and  in 
every  place  along  the  track  where  water  would  collect  has 
been  built  a  stone  gutter  or  waterway,  lined  with  cement,  so 
that  the  heavy  rains  will  not  disturb  the  track.  The  scenery 
along  this  ten  miles  of  mountain  climbing  is  grand  and  beau- 
tiful. The  employees  of  the  road  are  native  Brazilians,  mostly 
of  Portuguese  descent,  and  handle  this  immense  traffic  with 
care  and  skill.  The  railroad  company  have  built  houses  for 
their  employees  at  all  points  along  the  line  where  needed. 
After  the  road  had  been  in  operation  for  some  years  the  com- 
pany decided  to  build  a  parallel  line,  which  new  road  has  the 
same  plan  of  cable  for  climbing  the  mountains,  and  separate 
power  house  for  pulling  the  cables,  so  that  the  company  now 
have  two  separate  and  complete  lines  for  this  hill  climbing. 
The  new  line  takes  a  slightly  different  course,  and  is  from 
100  to  500  feet  above  the  old  road,  on  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain. We  went  over  the  new  n^ad.  but  the  old  road  was  nearly 
always  in  plain  view,  a  few  hundred  feet  below  us.  The  build- 
ing of  this  second  line  will  illustrate  the  immense  traffic  this 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SANTOS 

road  has  and  the  great  profit  they  make.  Both  these  roads 
are  best  construction  of  rock  and  cement  we  have  seen  in 
railroad  building.  They  have  put  their  profits  into  perma- 
nent betterments  of  their  railroads  and  it  is  claimed  that  this 
is  the  best  built  piece  of  railroad  in  the  world. 


SANTOS 


We  landed  at  Santos,  the  shipping-  port  for  Sao  Paulo, 
on  February  6th.  This  port  has  a  record  in  years  past  of 
having  been  one  of  the  worst  yellow  fever  places  in  South 
America,  but  it  now  has  the  appearance  of  being  a  bright,  clean 
little  seaport,  population  sixty  thousand.  The  Santos  River, 
with  mountains  on  either  side  form  a  beautiful  harbor,  the 
town  being  about  si.x  miles  inland  from  the  sea  entrance.  The 
river  has  been  dredged  out,  so  that  the  larger  steamers  come 
up  to  the  dock.  These  docks  are  over  a  mile  long,  with  solid 
rock  and  cement  built  wharf  all  the  way.  There  are  large 
corrugated  iron  warehouses  the  entire  length  of  the  wharf 
or  dock,  with  a  double  track  railroad  between  the  dock  and 
the  warehouses,  and  steel  power  cranes,  for  loading  and  un- 
loading shii)s.  giving  every  possible  advantage  for  the  hand- 
ling of  large  freight  cargoes.  .\t  the  time  we  were  in  Santos 
there  were  thirteen  large  ocean  steamers  tied  up  at  the  dock. 
l)esi(les  some  sailing  vessels,  lliis  is  not  the  coffee  season, 
and  there  is  not  much  of  that  crop  moving  at  present,  but 
the.se  great  warehouses  are  filled  with  incoming  merchandise 
of  every  description.  Brazil  manufactures  but  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  wares  which  she  consumes,  and  we  found  hero 
consigned  to  Sao  I'aulo,  or  more  distant  ])oints.  a  wonderful 
variety  of  merchandise,  such  as  white  print  ])aper.  for  news- 
papers, beer,  bottled  waters,  wines,  brandies,  billiard  tables, 
cotton    cloth,    railway    engines,    steel    rails,    railway    cars,    car 

'9 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


O 

m 
Pi 
<J 

O 

<^ 

o 
<J 
Pi 

o 
S 

H 

Z 
O 

o 

O 


MOXTEVEDIO 

wheels,  iron  water  pipe,  ropes,  glass,  nails,  dry  goods,  medi- 
cines, etc.  It  would  take  the  whole  day  to  mention  all  the 
varieties  of  merchandise  that  this  country  uses  and  imports 
from  other  countries.  We  notice  that  almost  every  article 
comes  from  Europe.  Our  own  country,  which  should  supply 
a  good  share  of  South  American  needs,  gets  but  little  of  their 
trade,  although  we  are  their  best  customers,  and  buy  more  of 
their  coffee  and  rubber  than  any  other  country.  In  fact,  we 
purchase  from  Brazil  nearly  half  of  their  exports.  The  peo- 
ple of  Santos  are  Portuguese,  or  their  descendents.  This  is 
the  largest  port  for  exports  of  any  point  in  Brazil ;  the  value 
of  all  shipments  from  Santos  in  1909  was  one  hundred  and 
thirty  million  dollars  gold.  The  handling  of  this  large  vol- 
ume of  merchandise  is  the  chief  employment  of  the  people 
at  Santos.  There  is  a  good  line  of  horse  cars  in  the  central 
part  of  the  city,  and  an  excellent  trolley  line  runs  about  eight 
miles  to  a  surf  bathing  beach,  in  the  suburban  residence  sec- 
tion. With  the  improvements  established  in  recent  years,  San- 
tos is  a  fairly  healthy  port,  although  one  of  the  hottest  places 
in  Brazil. 


MOXTEVEDIO, 

This  beautiful  modern  city  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  population,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  river, 
La  Plata,  has  a  fair  harljor,  since  it  is  protected  by  a 
breakwater.  Before  the  building  of  this  breakwater,  it  was 
a  very  poor  harbor.  The  city  has  made  a  great  effort  to 
serve  the  shipping  world;  very  extetisive  docks  have  been 
built  in  the  last  three  years  and  the  largest  ships  can  now 
come  alongside.  There  were  twenty-one  steamers  and  many 
large  sailing  vessels  in  port  on  I'^ebruary  10th,  191  i.  The 
climate  is  delightful,  being  latitude  35  south;  there  is  no  frost. 

21 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOrTH    AMIiRICA 


'IF'  f^il*fW 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


ONE   OF  THE  LEADING  DENIZENS   OF  THE   ZOOLOGICAL 
GARDEN,  MONTEVEDIO. 


MONTEVEDIO 

The  general  architectural  appearance  is  much  like  Italy ;  many 
beautiful  parks  and  a  grand  opera  house,  built  at  the  expense 
of  the  city,  covering  two  acres,  with  many  attractions.  We 
took  lunch  at  Pocito  Hotel,  a  beautiful  suburb,  where  sea  bath- 
ing is  fine,  and  a  great  resort  for  the  society  of  Montevedio. 
The  republic  of  Uraguay  is  the  smallest  in  South  America, 
being  about  one  and  half  times  as  large  in  area  as  the  state 
of  New  York,  and  has  a  population  of  a  little  over  one  mil- 
lion. The  products  are  sheep,  cattle,  ostriches,  Indian  corn, 
barley,  wheat,  flour,  oats,  flax,  and  almost  all  kinds  of  animals 
and  vegetables,  such  as  grow  in  our  United  States.  The 
money  standard  is  the  Peso,  worth  $1.04  in  gold;  one  hun- 
dred Centisimos  make  one  Peso ;  very  easy  for  the  foreigner 
to  learn.  The  language  is  Spanish,  and  if  one  cannot  speak 
that  language  he  will  find  it  very  difficult  to  transact  any 
business  in  this  city.  Education  is  enforced  by  law,  and  all 
children  must  attend  primary  schools.  Montevedio  is  noted 
for  its  culture,  educational  facilities,  its  museum,  libraries  and 
many  schools ;  also  its  excellent  university,  as  well  as  many 
charitable  institutions.  We  spent  two  hours  in  the  zoological 
garden,  which  has  the  largest  variety  and  the  most  interest- 
ing collection  of  any  we  have  ever  seen.  The  greatest  variety 
of  birds,  from  canary  to  the  ostrich,  all  manner  of  fowls,  rep- 
tiles, animals,  both  wild  and  domestic ;  all  this  great  display 
is  done  at  the  expense  of  one  of  Montevedio's  public  spirited 
citizens.  In  this  garden  is  the  cemetery  of  those  animals  which 
have  departed  this  life.  A  fine  moiuunent  which  cost  several 
hundred  Pesos  is  set  up  over  a  dead  monkey.  Another  over 
the  remains  of  a  dog;  one  for  a  lion,  another  over  a  cobra 
snake,  and  a  great  many  others.  There  are  at  least  forty  of 
these  monuments,  and  in  fact  a  beautiful  cemetery.  This  is 
the  only  cemetery  for  animals  we  have  ever  heard  of.  and 
we  hoj)e  this  peculiar  idea  may  not  exist  elsewhere,  as  the 
money  would  be  so  much  better  spent  if  invested  in  hospitals 
for  the  l)enefit  of  unfortunate  humanitv. 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


'^^'^^^^^H' if' 

_^^^^^^^^^^H  V 

- 

III 

^H 

•^ 

,£-? 

^3 

^ 

^^t  i^fe^ 

^ijitf 

j 

^  .^^^^^1 

ARGENTINA. 


Has  an  area  about  as  large  as  the  United  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  a  total  population  of  a  little  over 
six  million,  nearly  one-quarter  of  which  are  in  the  City  of 
Buenos  Aires.  It  is  the  second  Republic  in  size  in  South 
America,  and  at  present  is  making  more  rapid  progress  than 
any  other  of  these  South  American  countries.  Immigration 
is  coming  in  at  the  rate  of  one-c|uarter  of  a  million  per  year. 
A  great  amount  of  railroad  building  is  going  on.  About  fif- 
teen thousand  miles  are  now  in  operation,  and  extensive  im- 
provements are  being  made  in  every  part  of  the  Republic.  Ex- 
ports are  increasing  at  a  rapid  rate.  Wheat,  corn,  flax  and 
oats  being  the  principal  agricultural  exports,  while  wool, 
frozen  beef  and  mutton  are  shipped  out  in  large  quantities  to 
Europe.  It  is  claimed  that  Argentina  now  exports  more  food- 
stuff than  any  other  country  in  the  world.  There  are  thirty- 
five  steamship  lines  that  sail  regularly  from  Buenos  Aires. 
The  Government  is  patterned  after  our  L'nited  States,  prim- 
ary education  is  free,  and  compulsory,  for  all  children  be- 
tween six  and  fourteen  years  of  age.  The  population  is  prin- 
cipally of  Spanish  descent,  but  the  great  Italian  immigration 
now  coming  in  make  some  sections  almost  like  Italy.  On  Sat- 
urday night,  Eebruary  nth.  we  left  Montevedio  on  the  side 
wheel  steamer  "V'iena,"  for  Buenos  Aires,  where  we  arrived  the 
next  morning,  coming  up  the  La  Plata  River,  about  lOO  miles. 
This  is  one  of  the  wonderful  rivers  of  the  earth;  at  Buenos 
Aires,  icx)  miles  from  its  mouth,  the  La  Plata  is  thirty-one 
miles  wide.  We  went  to  the  top  of  the  La  Prenza  tower,  120 
feet  high,  and  could  not  see  across  the  river.  It  is  like  an 
ocean  in  appearance,  except  that  the  water  is  colored  yellow 
bv  the  great  amount  of  earth  which  is  washed  down.  This 
great  bodv  of  water  colors  the  sea  for  100  miles  out.  lUienos 
.\ires   is   in   many   respects  a  copy  of    Paris,   in   architecture. 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


ARGENTINA 

streets,  sidewalks  and  restaurants,  which  cover  the  sidewalks 
with  their  customers  chairs.  The  Palermo  Park  is  much  like 
Bois  De  Bologne  of  Paris.  The  population  of  the  city  is  a 
million  and  a  quarter,  mostly  Spanish  and  Italians,  and  the 
Spanish  language  is  generally  spoken.  The  city  is  claimed 
to  be  the  most  wealthy  per  capita  in  the  world.  Buenos 
Aires  is  situated  on  a  flat  plain  and  has  a  great  harbor.  The 
dock  extending  for  miles  along  the  river  front.  Being  the 
capital  of  Argentina,  and  a  great  seaport,  nearly  all  the 
commerce  of  the  Republic  centers  here.  They  are  now  build- 
ing an  underground  or  subway  for  street  car  lines,  and  a 
great  many  other  improvements  are  going  on.  Regarding  this 
river  harbor  or  dock,  there  are  now  twenty-seven  miles  of 
stone  built  docks,  costing  the  enormous  sum  of  forty-seven 
million  dollars,  affording  the  greatest  convenience  for  re- 
ceiving and  discharging  cargo,  and  yet  there  is  not  room 
enough  for  this  large  water  traffic.  Steamers  sometimes  are 
compelled  to  anchor  out  in  the  stream  for  over  a  month,  be- 
fore they  can  get  an  opportunity  to  come  alongside  of  the 
dock.  We  saw  a  dozen  large  steamers  anchored  mid-stream 
as  we  came  in.  Warehouses  are  continuous  along  these  docks, 
and  more  are  now  being  built.  There  is  one  wool  warehouse 
which  has  had  fifty-seven  million  pounds  of  wool  on  storage 
at  one  time.  The  I^  Plata  is  not  very  deep,  and  the  harbor 
authorities  have  marked  with  buoys  (which  bear  a  light  at 
night),  a  channel  all  the  way  to  the  ocean.  As  the  river  water 
is  so  loaded  with  sand  and  mud.  a  great  many  dregde  boats 
are  kept  constantly  at  work  dredging  the  channel.  W'c  called 
at  the  La  Prenza,  the  greatest  newspaper  building  in  the 
world,  built  by  the  La  ]*renza  Newspaper  (^)mpany,  and  oc- 
cupied l)y  them  as  a  j^rinting  house.  This  great  company 
have  almost  a  city  inside  of  their  beautiful  buildings.  There 
is  a  concert  hall,  which  looks  much  like  the  ban(|uct  hall  in 
the  Windsor  Castle,  England,  and  is  finished  elaborately; 
also  a  royal  suite  of  rooms,  consisting  of  a  ban(|uet  hall,  sniok- 

29 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


< 

§1 
en  n 

Qi    CO 

K  be 

i^ 

s  s 

O  a 

^^ 
o  ° 
So 

o 


ARGEXTIXA 

ing  hall,  ladies'  reception  room,  library  and  ladies'  boudoir, 
all  very  large  and  fitted  out  in  truly  royal  style.  In  fact, 
we  have  not  seen  finer  furnished  or  finished  rooms  in  any 
of  the  palaces  of  Europe.  These  handsome  apartments  are 
simply  in  readiness  to  entertain  royalty,  or  persons  of  renown. 
They  tell  us  that  the  last  United  Stater,  or  "North  American" 
who  was  entertained  here  was  the  famous,  or  infamous  Dr. 
Cook,  who  claimed  to  have  discovered  the  North  Pole,  and 
who  now  admits  that  perhaps  he  did  not.  There  are  also 
found  in  this  great  building  a  bank,  restaurant  for  employees, 
a  free  medical  dispensary,  a  free  employment  agency,  and  free 
law  library,  with  lawyers  in  attendance,  to  give  advice  to  poor 
persons,  without  charge,  and  other  rooms  devoted  to  philan- 
thropic work,  besides  the  printing  establishment  of  the  I^i 
Plaza  Newspaper,  said  to  have  the  largest  circulation  of  any 
newspaper  in  South  America.  There  are  some  wide  Ave- 
nidas  in  Buenos  Aires.  The  most  important  of  these  is  the 
Avenida  de  Mayo,  which  has  the  president's  residence  at  one 
end,  and  the  National  capitol  hall  at  the  other.  This  great 
thoroughfare  is  a  mile  long  and  150  feet  wide,  with  a  double 
row  of  arc  lights  down  the  middle.  It  is  built  up  the  entire 
length  with  a  fine  class  of  buildings  occupied  by  hotels,  thea- 
ters, restaurants,  large  department  stores  and  office  buildings. 
No  heavy  traffic  is  allowed  on  this  Avenida.  only  carriages 
and  automobiles,  and  this  traffic  is  as  heavy  and  continuous 
as  on  I'^ifth  Avenue,  New  ^'ork — a  continuous  stream  of  ve- 
hicles. There  is  no  speed  limit  here  for  automobiles:  they  are 
pennitted  to  drive  as  fast  as  they  choose,  and  they  choose  a 
speed  of  twenty-five  to  thirty-fi\e  miles  an  hour:  we  wonder 
h(»w  it  is  that  they  do  not  ha\e  more  accidents.  The  .Vvenida 
in  \ery  smooth,  swept  clean  and  an  ideal  i)lace  for  drixing.  if 
the  street  was  not  so  crowded.  Standing  at  the  monument 
in  front  of  the  President's  mansion,  we  could  see  the  eiuire 
length  of  this  great  street,  and  saw  the  dome  of  the  capitol  at 
the  other  end.  Ihe  i)leasure  seekers  here  do  not  gel  really 
waked   up  until   about   nine  o'clock   at   night,   and    from   that 

.^1 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


ARGENTINA 

hour  until  three  in  the  morning  every  carriage  and  automobile 
is  on  the  run,  quite  like  Paris  in  this  respect.  We  had  been 
told  that  Buenos  Aires  was  the  most  expensive  city  in  the 
world  to  live  in,  but  we  did  not  find  it  so.  The  hotels  are 
first-class,  and  no  more  expensive  than  New  York.  The  car- 
riage hire  is  66  cents  the  first  hour,  and  53  cents  per  hour 
after  that.  The  first-class  automobiles  are  $4.40  per  hour; 
second-class  $3.52  per  hour.  Hotels  pay  their  waiters  $22.00 
per  month  and  board.  Their  chamber-maids  $17.60  per 
month  and  board.  We  stopped  at  Cecil  Hotel  which  is  new 
and  first-class,  with  French  cooking,  located  on  the  Avenida 
de  Alayo.  in  the  best  part  of  the  city;  their  prices  were  no 
higher  than  for  the  same  accommodations  in  New  York.  We 
mention  this  because  our  United  States  minister,  Mr.  Sherill, 
has  recently  made  many  speeches  in  the  United  States,  giv- 
ing the  impression  that  labor  in  Argentina  is  paid  about  twice 
as  much  as  in  our  country,  which  is  a  great  mistake.  Labor 
here  is  not  paid  as  much  as  in  the  United  States.  Let  no  man 
who  is  working  for  wages  leave  our  country,  anticipating 
higher  wages  here,  as  he  will  be  bitterly  disappointed.  If  a 
man  is  young  and  has  no  family,  with  good  ability,  and  a  few 
thousand  dollars  capital,  this  is  a  good  place  for  him  to  make 
a  fortune  in  the  cattle  and  sheep  business,  provided  he  is  will- 
ing to  put  up  with  the  hard,  rough  and  severe  knocks  he  is 
likely  to  get  in  a  new  country.  If  he  has  a  family,  then  don't 
come  at  all,  as  the  customs  are  so  different  from  ours,  that 
the  ladies  have  very  little  consideration,  and  every  one  of 
the  ladies  we  met  from  the  L'nited  States  were  homesick, 
and  glad  to  get  back  on  almost  any  terms.  The  side  streets 
in  Buenos  Aires  are  narrow,  generally  only  thirty  feet  wide. 
On  these  narrow  streets  the  traffic  is  only  permitted  to  travel 
in  one  direction,  and  on  "I-'lorida"  street  all  the  vehicles  are 
prohibited  between  five  and  seven  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  during  these  hours  the  whole  street  is  filled  with  men  and 
women  walking.  The  traffic  on  this  street  is  greatly  con- 
gested, in  fact,  all  the  central  streets  are  greatly  overcrowded. 

^3 


SOL'TH    AMERICA 


ARGENTINA 

and  the  increase  which  is  to  come  must  be  located  on  other 
streets.  The  Colon  Theater  is  the  pride  of  the  city,  cost  ten 
million  dollars,  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  theater  build- 
ings in  the  world ;  the  cheapest  seats  are  25  pesos,  and  the 
box  seats  are  70  pesos;  seating  capacity  is  5,000.  The  city 
is  gridironed  with  street  railway  tracks,  an  excellent  electric 
trolley  system;  fare  4  4-10  cents  for  short  rides.  The  stand- 
ard of  money  in  Argentina  is  a  pesos,  which  is  worth  here 
44  cents.  Small  paper  bills  are  issued  by  the  government 
in  denominations  of  one.  five  and  fifty  pesos,  printed  on 
poor  paper;  we  would  think  the  country  would  be  flooded 
with  counterfeits.  Their  fractional  currency  is  100  centimes 
to  the  pesos ;  small  nickel  coins  are  five,  ten  and  twenty 
centimes.  The  city  has  a  good  waterwcM^ks  system,  with  good 
water ;  also  a  good  sewage  system.  The  streets  are  kept 
clean  and  the  health  of  the  city  is  excellent.  The  tempera- 
ture is  in  fact  never  cold ;  no  snow  or  frost,  but  sometimes 
in  summer  it  is  hot.  There  are  very  many  handsome  public 
in.stitiitions,  private  residences  and  beautiful  city  parks,  with 
palm  trees  and  flowers.  It  is  a  beautiful  city  and  compares 
favorably  with  the  best  cities  in  Europe  or  United  States, 
and  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  largest  cities  in  the 
world. 

The  boulevard  to  Palermo  Park  is  about  200  feet  wide, 
and  in  the  afternoon  is  full  of  carriages  and  automobiles. 
Every  conveyance  in  the  city  is  pressed  into  service  for  a 
drive  to  this  park  during  the  fashionable  driving  hours.  While 
we  were  there  the  people  had  several  days  of  festivities,  wind- 
ing up  with  a  "masked  fete."  Many  were  driving  in  car- 
riages on  Avenida  de  Mayo  and  Palermo  Park,  dressed  like 
clowns,  with  faces  covered  with  masks:  they  seem  to  enji^y 
this  masquerading.  The  race-course  is  situated  on  Palermo 
Park  drive,  and  is  claimed  to  be  the  largest  and  best  in  the 
world;  there  are  three  circular  tracks,  each  100  feet  wide. 
The  grandstand  where  the  finish  of  the  race  is  made  is  set 
100  feet   back    from  the  track   and   the   space  between   is  laid 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


m 
O 

H 
U 
pq 

H 
"^ 
H 
O 
CQ 

o 

pq 


ARGENTINA 

out  in  flower  gardens,  and  looks  much  like  fairyland.  The 
best  seats  are  sold  at  seven  Pesos,  or  $3.25  gold,  each.  The 
grandstand  will  seat  about  50,000,  and  ladies  do  not  attend 
the  races.  The  betting  is  on  a  large  scale,  and  there  is  a 
race  on  every  half  hour  from  three  to  five-thirty.  All  these 
are  running  races;  trotting  races  are  too  slow  for  the  peo- 
ple of  Argentina.  There  are  two  race  days  each  week,  the 
whole  year  round,  Sundays  and  Thursdays.  They  have  the 
best  race-horses  in  the  world,  and  their  carriage  horses  are 
not  excelled  for  style  in  any  country.  The  Japanese  Hippo- 
drome, or  Circus,  is  located  on  this  drive,  and  we  went  there 
one  night.  The  place  is  an  architectural  copy  of  the  old 
Roman  Forum,  a  wonderful  show  place,  with  first-class  en- 
tertainment. One  day  we  went  out  to  the  Tigre  River,  and 
Parana  River,  about  thirty  miles  from  Buenos  Aires,  by  rail, 
through  their  most  beautiful  suburb  Belgrano.  At  the  Tigre 
station  we  took  small  steam  launches  for  a  two-hour  sail 
on  the  beautiful  Tigre  River;  the  scenery  on  this  river  is 
enchanting.  There  is  a  boat  club  here  of  300  members,  and 
they  have  built  landings  and  bungalows  along  the  river,  which 
is  usually  from  100  to  200  feet  wide,  with  banks  set  with 
palm  and  Eucalytus  trees  intersperced  with  apple,  peach  and 
quince  trees.  In  many  places  for  a  long  distance  the  banks, 
down  to  the  water  edge,  are  covered  with  quince  trees ;  the 
fruit  is  fine,  large,  yellow  and  ripe.  At  a  little  hotel'  where 
we  took  lunch  we  sat  under  a  grape  arbor  100  feet  square, 
the  roof  thickly  matted  with  grape  vines  and  leaves,  and  the 
great  big  bunches  of  purple  ripe  grapes  hanging  down  in  pro- 
fusion to  tempt  us.  Our  dessert  was  grapes,  from  the  roof, 
and  we  enjoyed  them  very  much.  The  weather  was  ideal, 
and  we  spent  here  one  of  the  most  pleasant  days  of  our  stay 
in  Argentina.  Another  day  our  party  went  out  twenty-five 
miles  by  rail  to  an  "Kstanchion,"  or  lanch,  as  we  call  it.  This 
is  the  show  place  of  Argentina  for  live  stock,  horses,  cat- 
tle and  .sheep,  all  of  the  best  grades  to  l)e  found  in  this  part  of 
the  world.     There  is  none  too  good,  or  too  expensive  for  these 

?>7 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SODA  WATER   PEDDLER,  BUENOS  AIRES,  ARGENTINA. 


ARGEXTIXA 

"Estanchions."  There  were  a  great  many  prize  animals, 
which  cost  the  owner  many  thousand  pesos  each ;  it  was  like 
a  live  stock  county  fair,  only  more  so.  The  animals  were 
curried  and  combed  in  the  neatest  style,  with  prize  ribbons 
on  their  horns  or  halters,  and  made  a  great  show.  This  par- 
ticular "Estanchion"  contains  about  15,000  acres,  and  is  owned 
by  one  of  the  richest  natives  in  Argentina.  These  grounds 
have  been  under  the  care  of  an  Italian  landscape  gardener  for 
many  years,  and  present  the  most  beautiful  appearance,  with 
double  rows  of  palm  trees,  intersperced  with  small  lakes  and 
many  flowering  plants;  probably  it  is  the  most  beautiful  stock 
farm  in  Argentina.  There  is  no  winter  here  like  we  have  in 
our  country ;  very  seldom  a  frost  in  this  section  of  Argentina. 
The  plant  life  flourishes  the  year  round,  which  helps  the 
landscape  gardener  to  do  what  we  could  not  accomplish  in 
our  climate.  Also  the  stock  on  this  wonderful  "Estanchion" 
do  not  get  in  thin  flesh  on  account  of  cold  in  winter,  but  keep 
on  growing  fat  on  grass,  and  become  fine  large  bullocks  of 
1000  pounds  at  three  years  of  age,  without  any  grain.  In 
fact,  scarcely  any  grain  is  fed  to  horses  and  cattle  in  this 
country. 

Argot f ilia  Raihcays — 13.250  miles  cost  about  $850,000,000. 
That  would  be  $64,000  per  mile,  which  is  preposterous. 

The  whole  of  Argentina  has  suffered  much  with  a 
drought  which  has  prevailed  for  the  last  two  years,  but  most 
severely  felt  during  the  last  few  months.  Many  cattle  and 
horses  have  died  for  lack  of  food  and  water.  In  one  sec- 
tion, that  is  the  Southwestern  Argentina,  back  towards  the 
mountains,  there  has  been  a  continuous  drought  for  the  past 
four  years,  and  the  cattle  have  mostly  been  driven  out  or 
died,  and  the  sheep  arc  having  a  very  bad  chance  to  get 
enough  to  keep  them  alive.  The  locusts  in  this  dry  part  of 
Argentina  are  a  great  pest,  and  come  in  such  swarms  that 
they  devour  what  little  grass  is  left.  The  wheat  crop  this 
year  was  not  more  than  an  average  half  cro]).  h'ortunately. 
the  countrv  has  in  the  last  few  days  been  visited  with  a  great 

39 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


ARGENTINA 

big  general  rain,  which  extended  nearly  over  the  whole  of 
Argentina,  and  the  wheat  land  is  now  in  condition  to  plow, 
but  the  horses  are  too  thin  and  weak  to  work,  as  they  do  not 
feed  their  farm  horses  grain,  but  make  them  live  simply  by 
grazing.  As  there  had  been  no  rain  for  a  long  time,  there 
was  scarcely  any  grass,  but  since  the  rains  this  month,  the 
grass  is  now  growing,  and  in  three  or  four  weeks  the  horses 
will  l)e  in  condition  to  work  on  the  plows  again.  In  the 
meantime,  the  farmers,  many  of  them,  are  trying  to  find  gaso- 
line engines  to  do  their  plowing  by  power.  These  large  level 
wheat  fields  can  be  plowed  by  gasoline  engines  very  conven- 
iently. We  met  a  salesman  for  the  International  Harvester 
Company,  of  Chicago,  who  has  been  here  for  four  years, 
selling  harvesters,  and  he  reports  that,  on  account  of  the 
drought  he  has  not  sold  more  than  half  the  usual  number  of 
harvesters,  and  now  he  can  sell  more  gasoline  engines  than 
he  can  get.  In  some  sections  where  they  had  local  rains  their 
wheat  crop  was  fairly  good,  but  in  many  places  the  crop  was 
an  entire  failure  the  past  season.  The  United  States  sell 
most  of  the  harvesting  machines,  sewing  machines,  typewrit- 
ing machines  and  gasoline  engines  that  are  used  here.  The 
greater  part  of  Argentina  is  still  a  grazing  land,  all  that  part 
adjacent,  or  lying  near  the  Andes  mountains,  gets  too  little 
rain  to  be  worth  much  for  agricultural  purposes ;  really  not 
worth  very  much  for  grazing.  Some  i)arts  of  it  even  gets  too 
little  rain  to  produce  any  grass.  Along  the  Atlantic  coast  for 
150  or  200  miles  the  rains  are  usually  (|uite  regular,  and  in 
this  part  of  Argentina  wheat,  corn.  oats,  rye  and  flax,  and 
all  that  class  of  crops  are  raised,  where  the  rains  are  reason- 
ably regular.  I'urther  back  than  that  the  rains  are  more  ir- 
regular; the  farther  west  we  go.  the  thinner  the  rainfall  is, 
and  the  poorer  the  grass  becomes.  The  price  of  ordinary 
draft  horses  here  is  $35  to  S45,  and  fat  steers  are  today 
(|uoted  in  the  l')Uenos  .Aires  market  at  $20  gold,  per  head; 
cows  $12  to  $15.  Quite  recently,  just  before  the  rains  of  this 
month,  grazing  stnck  could  be  bought    for  almost  any  ])rice, 

43 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


THE   ANDES 

but  the  conditions  are  now  looking  much  better.  We  were 
told  that  an  ItaHan  came  to  Buenos  Aires  about  two  months 
ago,  with  a  good  lot  of  money,  and  found  the  prices  of  live 
stock  on  the  western  ranges  so  very  cheap  that  he  bought  a 
large  amount,  although  they  were  dying  at  the  time,  and  it 
was  supposed  they  were  almost  worthless.  Since  then,  the 
fine  rains  have  come,  and  the  value  of  the  cattle  has  increased 
many  fold,  and  the  conditions  now  are  looking  very  much 
more  cheerful.  At  present  grazing  lands  are  said  to  be  cheap 
here,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  get  definite  information  as 
to  values.  Farm  labor  is  paid  about  $22  per  month.  Cattle 
herders  $30  per  month,  gold,  and  freight  rates  to  Europe  are 
very  much  cheaper  than  from  United  States.  Also  the  rail- 
way haul  on  wheat  is  short,  as  the  wheat  land  now  under 
cultivation  is  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  With  average  seasons 
there  should  be  profit  in  wheat  raising  here,  if  the  price  of 
land  is  not  too  high. 


ACROSS  THE  ANDES. 

We  left  Buenos  .Vires  for  a  trip  across  the  continent  of 
South  America  on  I'ebruary  i6th.  191 1.  over  the  Buenos 
Aires  and  Pacific  Railway.  This  is  the  most  extraordinary 
railway  we  have  ever  .seen — 5  feet  6  inch  gauge,  well  built 
with  a  good  equipment,  and  does  a  very  large  business,  both 
in  freight  and  passengers,  l-'or  four  hundred  miles  out  of 
Buenos  Aires,  going  west,  there  is  not  a  cut,  a  fill  or  a  bridge 
worth  mentioning,  and  in  one  section  the  road  is  perfectly 
straight  for  175  miles.  This  road  runs  through  the  largest 
level  plain,  or  pampas,  we  have  ever  seen.  Vi)v  about  200 
miles  the  land  is  under  cultivation,  mostly  wheat  raising. 
After  that  the  wheat  fields  grow  less,  by  degrees,  and  the 
country  is  given   over  to  pasturage  and   is   literally   covered 

45 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


O 

H  be 

M  •- 

T  CO 

og 

a  ^" 

-I  o 


M 


O 


THE   ANDES 

with  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  ostriches.  We  have  never  seen 
such  great  numbers  of  animals,  10,000  in  sight  on  every  side. 
They  are  now  doing  well,  and  will  soon  be  fat,  if  the  favor- 
able rains  continue.  As  before  stated,  there  are  no  rivers 
or  streams  to  bridge,  but  occasionally  a  small  lake  or  marsh, 
which  serves  to  hold  water  for  the  stock.  There  are  a  great 
many  windmills  all  over  this  plain,  for  pumping  water  from 
wells.  The  horses  on  this  Pampas  are  generally  of  a  small 
and  inferior  quality,  but  the  cattle  are  well  graded  stock, 
many  of  them  Durhams,  Herefords,  and  other  good  grades, 
for  beef.  The  sheep  are  also  of  good  quality,  but  we  could 
not  state  regarding  the  ostriches,  whether  they  were  the  best 
grades  or  otherwise.  They  are  great  big  birds  and  graze 
(|uietly  along  with  the  horses  and  cattle.  There  are  enough 
ostriches  on  this  Pampas  to  furnish  every  woman  in  Argentina 
with  a  fine  plume,  and  leave  a  great  surplus  to  export.  To 
our  surprise  in  this  stock-raising  section,  there  is  scarcely  a 
building  to  be  seen  for  many  miles,  just  a  hut  occasionally, 
which  is  occupied  by  the  cowboys  and  their  families.  Xo 
buildings  of  any  kind  to  protect  the  stock.  There  is  not  a 
wind-break  for  500  miles.  1Mie  wind  storms  which  are  very 
sudden  and  destructive  are  of  short  duration.  There  are  many 
wire  fences:  we  suppose  every  owner  has  his  land  fenced. 
Also  there  are  many  small  fields  of  alfalfa  scattered  over 
this  plain,  and  we  were  told  that  the  cattle  owners  are  now 
making  arrangements  to  put  uj)  hay.  that  they  may  ])revent 
the  starvation  of  their  stock  in  times  of  drought.  The  great 
drawback  to  cattle  raising  here  is  the  danger  of  loss  by  starva- 
tion in  times  of  drought.  If  the  alfalfa  hay  proves  to  be  suf- 
ficient to  keep  the  cattle  ali\e  during  these  occasional  dry 
times,  it  will  gi\e  a  great  impetus  to  the  cattle  raising  in- 
dustry in  this  section. 

Moving  along  over  this  great  Pampas  by  train  we  saw 
mirages  at  a  little  distance,  of  perha])s  half  a  mile,  a  smooth 
placid  lake  a])peared  on  the  horizon.  .\t  first,  we  would  not 
belicxe  it  was  simply  an  optical  illusion,  but  when  we  jiassed 

47 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


THE   ANDES 

by  several  of  these  places,  where  the  lake  appeared  to  be,  we 
were  convinced  that  it  was  a  mirage,  due  to  the  peculiarities 
of  these  plains.  As  it  was  our  first  experience  of  this  kind, 
to  us  it  seemed  a  very  novel  sight.  We  arrived  at  Mendoza 
the  next  morning,  after  a  very  unpleasant  and  dusty  ride  in 
the  sleeping  car.  The  fine  pulverized  dust  covers  the  cars 
on  the  western  section  of  the  road  near  the  mountains,  and 
everything  on  the  train,  including  ourselves,  penetrating  the 
mouth,  nose  and  lungs,  and  it  was  a  great  relief  to  breathe 
fresh  mountain  air.  The  sleeping  cars  are  quite  comfortable, 
being  compartment  cars,  with  corridor  on  the  side,  and  we 
were  not  troubled  with  dust  during  the  day,  as  there  had  been 
a  rain  recently,  which  wet  the  dusty  plain  for  about  500  miles 
or  more  west  of  Buenos  Aires;  but  I  awakened  about  eleven 
o'clock  with  the  dust  so  intolerable  that  I  felt  I  could  not 
exist  very  long  in  the  compartment.  Therefore,  I  quietly 
dressed  myself  and  thought  I  would  go  out  into  the  corridor, 
supposing  that  the  air  would  be  better  and  the  dust  not  so 
bad.  I  soon  found  my  mistake,  however,  as  the  wind  was 
quite  strong,  the  cars  are  not  tightly  put  together,  and  there 
was  a  regular  dust  storm  sweeping  down  the  corridor,  which 
drove  me  back  again  into  my  compartment.  After  enduring 
this  unpleasant  condition  for  a  while,  I  resorted  to  the  plan 
of  opening  the  window  wide,  and  it  so  happened  that  the 
wind  was  from  our  side  of  the  train  and  blew  the  dust  away 
from  us,  so  that  we  got  along  fairly  comfortable,  although 
this  section  of  the  road  which  is  near  the  Andes  mountains  on 
the  eastern  side,  receives  very  little  rain,  and  some  places 
none  at  all.  and  has  a  great  reputation  for  being  dusty.  The 
City  of  Mendoza  gets  no  rain  at  all,  as  the  clouds  in  this  part 
of  the  w<hM(1  come  from  the  west,  are  caught  by  the  Andes 
Mountains,  and  the  rain  precipitated  on  the  western  slope, 
but  enough  siio-iC  falls  on  the  eastern  side  to  make  water  for 
irrigation.  The  whole  country  adjacent  to  Mendoza  is  de- 
voted to  the  cultivation  of  grapes  and  wine  making,  and  there 
are  thousands  of  acres  of  grape  vines  now  loaded  with  large 

49 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


-54   i. 

si 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


THE   ANDES 

bunches  of  blue  grapes.  The  city  Hes  at  the  foot  of  the  great 
Cordirilla  range  of  the  Andes,  2500  feet  above  the  sea  level, 
and  here  we  changed  to  a  narrow  railway,  one  meter,  or  three 
feet,  three  inch  gauge,  which  climbs  the  mountains.  From 
seven  o'clock  until  three  in  the  afternoon  we  were  climbing 
this  great  mountain  chain,  much  of  the  time  over  a  cog  rail, 
where  the  grade  is  too  steep  for  plain  rails.  During  this  time 
we  gradually  ascended  until  we  were  10,468  feet  above  the 
sea  level.  The  rugged  mountain  scenery  is  grand  beyond  de- 
scription, and  without  vegetation  of  any  kind.  The  many 
sharp  peaks  challenge  our  admiration  at  every  turn.  As  there 
are  no  observation  cars  on  this  road  we  sat  on  the  rear  plat- 
form most  of  the  way  with  our  camera,  and  ready  for  a  shot 
when  something  might  open  up  more  beautiful  than  the  aver- 
age. Really,  there  is  not  a  mile  of  this  whole  mountain  climb- 
ing which  would  not  make  a  beautiful  picture.  Just  before 
we  reached  the  tunnel  we  had  a  sight  of  old  Anconcagua,  the 
highest  mountain  peak  in  this  hemisphere,  between  23,000 
and  24,000  feet.  It  seemed  to  be  not  more  than  a  mile  dist- 
ant and  covered  with  everlasting  snow — it  is  sublime.  We 
entered  the  Andes  tunnel,  which  is  about  two  miles  long,  at 
three  o'clock,  and  were  out  in  the  sunshine  of  Chile  in  nine 
minutes;  this  tunnel  penerates  the  mountains  2.000  feet  below 
the  summit.  We  would  rather  have  climbed  over  the  summit 
on  mule  back,  or  by  stage,  but  since  the  completion  of  the 
tunnel,  the  stages  have  been  taken  off.  and  there  are  but  few 
mules  to  be  had.  Also,  it  is  reported  that  there  are  brigands 
on  this  trail  now,  who  will  rob.  and  if  necessary,  kill  the  trav- 
eler unless  they  are  well  armed,  and  in  parties  large  enough 
to  ])luff  the  would-be  rol)l)ers.  The  goxernment  of  Argen- 
tina furnished  an  armed  esc(^rt  for  our  train  from  Mendoza 
to  the  tunnel,  and  the  government  of  C'hile  furnished  an  armed 
escort  from  the  tunnel  down  to  Los  Andes.  So  far  as  we 
could  .see,  there  was  no  necessity  of  this  armed  escort,  but 
the  two  governments  probably  know  mni-e  about  what  is 
needed  here  than  we  dn.      The  statue  of  "Christ  of  the  Andes" 


SOL'TH    AMERICA 


SANTIAGO 

is  located  at  the  highest  point  on  this  pass,  marking  the  boun- 
dary between  Argentina  and  Chile.  The  descent  on  the  Chil- 
ian side  of  the  mountains  is  more  grand  and  awe  inspiring. 
if  possible,  than  the  ascent  on  the  eastern  side.  The  inclines 
are  steeper  and  more  continuous.  Wt  dropped  down  8000 
feet  to  Los  Andes  in  less  than  three  hours,  and  by  midnight 
we  were  comfortably  housed  in  the  Grand  Hotel  at  Santiago. 
Chile. 


SANTIAGO 

This  is  the  capitol  of  Chile — population  350,000;  a  beau- 
tiful city,  lying  1.800  feet  above  the  sea  level,  between  the 
Cordirilla  and  the  coast  range.  The  climate  is  delightful 
on  the  average,  and  the  streets  present  a  good  appearance, 
some  of  them  are  wide  Avenidas.  and  the  many  handsome 
public  buildings  give  the  city  more  than  ordinarily  a  fine  ap- 
pearance. By  chance  we  met  Dr.  W.  E.  Browning  on  the 
street ;  a  native  Missourian,  educated  at  Parkville  College, 
forty  miles  from  our  home  in  St.  Joseph,  Missouri.  We  had 
never  heard  of  him.  and  the  accidental  meeting  goes  to  show 
how  small  our  world  is,  as  we  meet  Missourians  in  all  parts 
of  the  earth.  Dr.  Browning  is  president  of  the  English  Col- 
lege for  Boys,  in  Santiago,  and  has  250  boys  in  his  college. 
He  has  been  here  for  fifteen  years,  and  speaks  the  Spanish 
language  more  correctly  than  the  native  Chilian.  He  is  a  de- 
lightfully pleasant  gentleman  in  every  way,  and  was  kind 
enough  to  personally  show  us  the  sights  of  the  city.  The 
drive  through  the  .\gricultural  E.xperimental  Park  was  inter- 
esting, as  Chile  is  experimenting  with  tiecs.  grains,  vegetables 
and  flowers  that  they  may  learn  of  all  that  is  adapted  to  their 
soil  and  climate.  We  called  at  the  .\cademy  of  I-'ine  Arts. 
which  is  a  handsome  large  building,  set  in  a  beautiful  park: 

.^5 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


WOMAN  CONDUCTOR  ON  STREET  CAR,  SANTIAGO,  CHILE. 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    A^IERICA 


USUAL    DRESS    AND   HEAD   COVERING   WHILE    SHOPPING 
OR  GOING  TO  CHURCH,   SANTIAGO,   CHILE. 


SANTIAGO 

also  we  visited  the  Catholic  cemetery  and  the  general  ceme- 
tery, both  are  a  credit  to  the  city  and  nation,  and  very  beau- 
tiful. We  noticed  a  man  carrying  in  his  arms  a  dead  infant, 
the  face  was  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  all  passers  by,  and  to 
the  rays  of  a  very  hot  sun.  Dr.  Browning  explained  that  this 
was  the  custom  here,  to  carry  the  bodies  of  their  dead  infants 
through  the  streets  and  into  the  houses  of  their  acquaintances, 
as  by  so  doing  they  gain  merit,  supposedly  carrying  a  little 
angel  through  the  street ;  to  us  it  seems  a  revolting  custom. 
The  most  important  thing  to  see  in  Santiago  is  the  Santa 
Lucia  Park,  situated  in  the  central  part  of  the  city.  In  this 
park  is  a  rock  200  feet  high.  About  half  way  up  is  a  Plaza 
where  the  people  of  the  city  congregate  in  the  evening  to 
listen  to  the  public  bands  of  music  which  play  here  every 
evening,  and  on  the  top  of  the  rock  is  a  platform  to  view  the 
surrounding  city,  and  the  setting  sun,  which  is  a  beautiful 
sight  from  this  elevated  place.  There  is  an  extensive  electric 
trolley  system  in  Santiago ;  their  power  to  run  the  cars  comes 
from  the  Maipo  river,  where  a  great  water-power  electric 
generating  plant  has  been  erected,  costing  three  million  dol- 
lars, gold,  furnishing  4,000  horse  power,  enough  to  run  all  the 
street  car  lines  and  electric  lighting  in  Santiago.  We  notice 
that  the  conductors  on  these  street  railways  are  women ;  they 
are  not  much  for  style  or  beauty,  but  do  the  work  satisfac- 
torily. If  the  trolley  jumps  off  the  wire,  they  are  adapt  in 
putting  it  back  in  place ;  they  do  not  have  as  many  pockets  as 
men,  and  therefore  do  not  knock  down  as  much.  The  Grand 
Hotel  at  Santiago  is  managed  by  a  woman,  and  she  is  well 
qualified  for  the  business,  handles  all  the  money,  directs  all 
the  help;  she  keeps  an  excellent  hotel,  judged  from  the  Span- 
ish viewpoint,  at  any  rate,  we  found  it  more  satisfactory  than 
we  had  anticipated.  General  O'lliggins.  an  Irishman,  was 
the  first  president  of  Chile,  and  was  an  important  factor  in 
establishing  the  independence  of  his  adopted  country.  His 
bronze  statue  stands  on  the  Alameda,  and  his  grave  in  the 
general  cemetery  is  marked  by  a  handsome  monument. 

59 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


VALPARAISO. 


One  morning  we  went  by  train  from  Santiago  through 
a  delightful  scenic  valley  to  Valparaiso,  the  most  important 
shipping  point  on  the  western  coast  of  South  America.  This 
city  has  a  population  of  200.000,  and  a  good  harbor,  when 
the  weather  is  fair,  but  a  very  poor  place  for  shipping  in  a 
storm,  as  the  entrance  is  so  wide  that  the  sea  sometimes 
rolls  in  tremendously  and  many  vessels  have  in  times  past 
been  driven  ashore.  Valparaiso  has  now  made  arrangements 
to  build  a  breakwater  1200  feet  long  across  part  of  the  har- 
bor entrance,  which  will  no  doubt  be  a  great  security  for 
shipping.  W'e  noticed  that  our  captain  was  alert  enough  to 
anchor  the  Blucher  near  the  entrance,  with  her  bow  towards 
the  sea.  This  harbor  is  a  very  busy  place,  filled  with  steam- 
ers and  sailing  vessels  from  every  important  port  on  the  globe. 
It  is  sometimes  called  the  San  Francisco  of  South  America. 
The  docks  for  two  miles  are  loaded  with  all  kinds  of  mer- 
chandise, machinery  and  produce,  stacked  without  cover,  as 
there  is  no  rain  expected  at  this  season  of  the  year.  Arrange- 
ments have  been  made  to  build  two  loading  docks,  then  large 
steamers  may  come  alongside  to  discharge  cargo.  The  har- 
bor is  situated  like  an  amphitheater;  the  stage  side  is  the 
ocean  entrance,  the  harbor  is  the  parquette,  and  the  hills  ris- 
ing all  around  the  bay  are  the  seats  for  the  audience.  The 
city  is  unique,  in  lying  around  the  harbor,  the  hills  rising  about 
two  hundred  or  three  hundred  feet;  the  business  houses  are 
located  near  the  water,  and  the  residences  on  the  hills.  There 
are  many  elevators,  called  ".Ascensions,"  which  lift  the  pedes- 
trian to  the  higher  level ;  fare  ecjual  to  two  cents  in  our  money. 
Viewed  from  our  shi])  at  night,  the  rows  of  lights  on  the  hills 
around  the  harbor  make  the  scene  l(M)k  like  fairyland.  The 
Chilians  have  a  (|ueer  way  of  tying  c-r  hitching  a  horse,  when 
they  leave  him  for  a  few  minutes  on  the  street;  they  strap  the 
hor.se's  forelegs  together,  or  h(»bl)le  him.  and  the  animal  seems 
to  think  it  is  a  good  plan,  and  stands  <|in'te  contentedly.     We 

61 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


VALPARAISO 

had  the  extreme  good  fortune  to  meet  here  Dr.  John  Trumbull 
and  his  interesting  family,  wife  and  two  daughters.  The 
great  grandfather  of  Dr.  Trumbull  was  Jonothan  Trumbull, 
the  Governor  of  Connecticut  under  King  George,  and  the 
first  Governor  of  Connecticut  under  the  United  States.  He 
was  a  friend  and  advisor  of  George  Washington,  and  by 
Washington  was  generally  spoken  of  as  "Brother  Jonothan." 
The  father  of  Dr.  Trumbull  was  one  of  the  first  missionaries 
from  the  United  States  to  Chile,  and  became  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  Chile,  that  he  might  have  more  influence  with  the 
Chilian  congress  in  getting  necessary  laws  passed,  and  was 
instrumental  in  getting  the  marriage  laws  of  Chile  passed; 
also  in  getting  a  charter  from  the  Chilian  government  whereby 
the  mission  may  buy  and  own  land  for  their  church  and  school 
purposes.  Dr.  John  Trumbull  is  a  native  of  Chile,  but  was 
educated  at  Yale,  in  the  same  class  with  President  Taft.  He 
is  a  man  of  very  superior  ability,  and  gave  us  much  informa- 
tion regarding  Chile.  We  were  invited  to  their  beautiful 
home  for  breakfast  and  enjoyed  meeting  their  family,  after 
which  Mrs.  Trumbull  escorted  us  to  the  most  beautiful  suburbs 
of  the  city,  "Vina  Del  Mar."  several  miles  out.  The  most 
beautiful  residences  in  Chile  are  here,  also  a  great  race  track, 
polo  grounds,  baseball,  cricket  and  foot  ball,  and  a  very  beau- 
tiful surf  bathing  beach;  the  Chilians  are  not  behind  in  races  or 
sports.  From  Dr.  Trumbull  we  had  a  description  of  the  ter- 
rible earthquake,  "Terramoto."  which  occurred  in  Valparaiso 
in  1906.  by  which  7000  lives  were  lost,  and  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  property  destroyed. 

The  loss  of  life  here  was  ten  times  as  great  as  the  two 
eartlu|uakes  which  occurred  at  San  Francisco  and  Kingston 
combined.  The  property  damages  have  been  mostly  repaired. 
They  still  have  quakes  at  short  intervals,  but  not  of  import- 
ance. Two  weeks  ago  there  was  a  good  strong  (|uake  at  San- 
tiago, but  did  very  little  damage.  In  1833,  W'dparaiso  was 
destroyed  by  an  earth(|uake.  and  the  city  has  at  other  times 
been  severely  shaken,  with  loss  of  life  and  pn^perty.   When  this 

63 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


VALPARAISO 

1906  quake  began,  the  Trumbulls  were  at  dinner  at  8  p.  m. ;  the 
quake  lasted  severely  for  five  minutes.  Almost  immediately 
the  chandelier  dropped  on  the  table,  and  the  dishes  were 
thrown  off.  The  mantel-piece  fell  into  the  center  of  the  room 
with  a  crash,  all  electric  and  gas  lights  went  out,  leaving  them 
in  total  darkness,  with  pictures  falling  from  the  walls,  plas- 
tering, ceiling  and  floors  falling.  A  large  telephone  pole  two 
feet  thick,  which  carried  a  great  number  of  wires,  and  stood 
in  front  of  their  house,  fell  across  the  roof,  knocking  in  one 
wall  and  a  part  of  the  roof,  but  there  was  such  a  din  and 
roaring  going  on  around  them  that  they  did  not  hear  or  feel 
the  fall  of  the  telephone  pole.  Fortunately  none  of  their  fam- 
ily were  injured,  but  they  camped  in  the  street  for  that  night, 
although  it  was  raining.  After  the  first  great  shock  the  earth 
continued  to  quiver  with  occasionally  a  hard  shake  for  forty- 
eight  hours,  and  during  that  time  very  little  could  be  done 
by  any  one  to  relieve  the  injured  and  dying.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem  to  us,  these  people  cling  to  their  hill  homes  just 
the  same  as  if  they  never  had  an  earthquake.  Last  year  the 
statistics  show  that  Valparaiso  lost  over  4.000  by  death  from 
smallpox,  and  there  is  an  epidemic  now.  of  smallpox,  but 
Dr.  Trumbull  said  he  thought  it  was  diminishing. 

Chile  is  nearly  3.000  miles  long,  averaging  about  100 
miles  wide,  extending  from  the  tropics  nearly  to  the  Ant- 
arctic zone.  The  population  of  Chile  is  three  million,  princi- 
pally Spanish,  with  a  good  mixture  of  Indians.  About  3.000 
educated  politicians  rule  Chile.  The  great  mass  of  the  people 
are  illiterate.  While  education  is  free,  there  are  almost  no 
.schools  outside  of  the  cities.  Chile  raises  nearly  every  kind 
of  vegetables,  fruit  and  flowers,  also  all  animals  that  we 
have,  and  many  more.  The  country  is  rich  in  minerals,  and 
opportunities  to  make  fortunes  in  developing  the  country  are 
open  to  all  who  make  an  effort  in  g.xxl  faith,  and  the  country 
is  opem'ng  up  wonderfully  fast;  the  land  titles  are  now  gO(^d 
and  pr(»pcrty  safe;  great  fortunes  ha\c  been  made  here  by 
Cicrmans,  English,  and  a  few  .\nicricans.     W.  R.  Cirace.  form- 

65 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


VALPARAISO 

erly  Mayor  of  New  York,  is  at  the  head  of  W*.  R.  Grace  & 
Co.,  the  largest  bankers  and  commission  firm  in  Chile.  Not- 
withstanding the  great  opportunities  offered  here,  we  think 
there  are  greater  opportunities  in  cnn*  own  fair  land,  and 
would  not  recommend  our  countrymen  to  come  here  to  invest. 

On  leaving  Valparaiso  we  steamed  down  the  western 
coast  of  South  America  for  three  days.  Our  course  lay  almost 
due  south,  ancf  not  far  off  land ;  every  day  we  saw  large  isl- 
ands lying  near  the  coast  along  the  lower  part  of  South 
America ;  they  are  generally  mountainous  and  bleak  in  ap- 
pearance, from  our  ship.  This  part  of  the  s(Hithern  Pacific 
ocean  is  usually  rough,  as  the  wind  from  the  west  has  an 
unobstructive  sweep  for  20,000  miles,  all  the  way  round  the 
globe,  as  there  is  no  other  land  on  earth  in  this  latitude,  and 
we  had  the  ordinary  heavy  sea.  We  thought  of  the  great 
navigator.  Captain  Cook,  who  sailed  across  this,  the  widest 
ocean  on  earth,  over  100  years  ago.  in  a  small  sail  craft,  and 
discovered  nearly  all  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Such  a  tre- 
mendous long  sail,  without  sight  of  land  in  an  unknown  ocean, 
against  head  winds  in  heavy  seas,  must  have  ta.xed  his  nerv- 
ous system,  as  well  as  his  skill  as  a  navigator.  Conditions 
are  very  different  now,  when  nearly  every  island  on  the  face 
of  the  globe  is  marked  on  a  chart,  and  most  of  them  support 
a  lighthouse,  and  all  the  best  steamers  suj)plie(l  with  charts 
and  wireless  telegraph,  so  we  can  almost  all  the  time,  talk 
with  the  land  wireless  system  and  tell  them  of  our  distress, 
if  we  have  an  v. 


60 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


MAGELLAN  STRAIT. 


Early  in  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  out  we  sighted 
the  "Three  Sisters,"  on  our  port  bow,  and  very  shortly  after 
"Cape  Pillar,"  on  the  starboard,  the  captain  passed  the  word 
that  we  were  entering  the  Magellan  Strait.  As  we  had  been 
anticipating  the  call,  we  were  soon  on  deck  with  our  camera 
ready  for  shooting.  This  strait,  which  is  very  crooked,  is 
really  a  deep  crack  across  the  Andes  mountain  chain,  near 
the  lower  end  of  the  continent  of  South  America.  To  the 
south  of  the  strait  lies  the  island  of  "Terre-del-Fuego,"  or  the 
"Cold  Land  of  Fire,"  and  "Cape  Horn"  is  on  the  extreme 
southern  end  of  the  island,  about  120  miles  south.  Steam- 
ers now  prefer  to  pass  through  this  strait,  as  it  cuts  off  over 
100  miles  distance,  but  sailing  vessels  prefer  the  route  "Around 
the  Horn."  The  Magellan  strait  is  much  like  a  big  river  in 
appearance ;  it  is  as  deep  as  the  sea,  from  600  to  6000  feet, 
and  has  a  heavy  current  of  water  running  through  it  from 
the  Pacific  ocean.  The  scenery  on  both  sides  was  grand  and 
interesting  beyond  description,  and  it  continued  for  every 
moment,  from  "early  morn,  to  dewy  eve."  By  many,  it  is 
said  to  be  better  than  the  Fjords  of  Norway.  At  any  rate 
it  is  the  grandest  we  have  ever  seen.  The  snow  capped 
mountains  rise  on  both  sides  of  the  strait  thousands  of  feet. 
In  many  places  the  ice  glaciers  can  be  seen,  and  in  three 
places  these  glaciers  come  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  grad- 
ually slide  into  the  channel.  It  looked  wonderful  to  us,  to  see 
a  stream  of  solid  ice  many  feet  thick,  and  half  a  mile  wide, 
extending  from  near  the  top  of  some  great  mountain,  thou- 
sonds  of  feet  high,  down  to  the  water,  always  sliding.  Hiey 
have  perhaps  been  a  thousand  years  in  forming,  and  every 
year  adds  as  much  ice  and  snow  on  top  as  it  loses  at  the  bot- 
tom, thus  making  it  automatic,  a  self-propelling  stream,  which 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


PUNTA  ARENAS. 

will  continue  as  long  as  the  world  stands.  This  is  the  26th 
day  of  February,  one  of  the  last  days  of  summer  here,  cor- 
responding with  the  last  days  of  August  in  our  latitude,  and 
this  ice  and  snow  now  in  sight  will  be  mostly  carried  over  until 
another  year,  and  who  can  tell  how  many  years  yet  to  come. 
We  had  a  whole  day  of  this  grandest  of  scenery.  Although 
we  took  breakfast  and  lunch,  we  begrudged  the  time  so 
spent,  and  shall  recall  the  day  with  the  greatest  of  pleasure 
all  our  lives. 


PLXTA   ARENAS 

We  anchored  at  Punta  Arenas  about  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  and  the  next  morning,  early,  took  small  boats  and 
went  ashore  for  a  few  hours  to  visit  this  little  city  of  12,000 
population.  It  is  unique  in  many  respects.  l)eing  situated 
on  the  extreme  southern  end  of  the  continent  of  South 
America,  and  the  most  s(»utherly  city  in  the  world.  As  this 
is  their  summer,  the  little  city  is  at  its  best  now.  and  the  flow- 
ers are  in  bloom ;  really  the  place  looks  better  than  we  had 
anticipated.  There  are  some  good  residences,  and  a  few  sub- 
stantial business  buildings,  and  some  others  being  built;  but 
there  are  many  of  the  poor  people  living  in  houses  built  of 
corrugated  iron,  and  on  the  whole  the  place  has  a  rather  deso- 
late appearance.  There  is  not  much  competition  with  neigh- 
boring cities,  as  the  nearest  city  of  importance  is  about  1,500 
miles  distant.  This  is  the  only  stopping  place  in  this  ])art  of 
the  world  for  ships,  and  a  coaling  station  is  maiiUained  here. 
I'^ortunately.  there  is  a  coal  mine  back  in  the  mountains  a  few 
miles,  and  a  small  railroad  is  built  to  bring  the  coal  down. 
There  is  a  good  pier,  built  several  hundred  feet  out  in  the 
channel,  where  small  ships  may  receive  and  discharge  cargo, 
btU   shii)s  of  ordinary  size  must  anchor  a  short  distance  out. 

75 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


a 

CM 

o 


P 

a 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


< 


m 


PUNTA   ARENAS 

The  temperature  in  Punta  Arenas  is  60  degrees  today,  Feb- 
ruary 27th,  191 1,  and  it  seldom  gets  higher,  but  in  the  winter 
it  is  frequently  10  degrees  below  zero,  with  much  snow.  We 
went  star-gazing  last  night,  and  the  "Southern  Cross"  is  al- 
most directly  overhead ;  the  stars  seem  brighter  here  than  we 
have  seen  them.  The  "Milky  W^ay"  is  very  bright,  and  ex- 
tends entirely  across  the  sky.  from  the  horizon  on  the  north, 
to  the  horizon  on  the  south,  and  Jupiter  looks  as  large  as  a 
baseball.  The  moon  lies  far  to  the  north,  and  its  crescent  is 
open  to  the  north.  Those  who  live  always  in  the  north  lati- 
tudes have  only  seen  the  moon's  crescent  open  towards  the 
south.  The  sun  at  mid-day  lies  away  to  the  north.  Summer 
here  is  winter  in  our  northern  home — exerything.  seasons, 
sun,  moon  and  stars  are  turned  around  ;  we  cannot  get  accus- 
tomed to  it.  The  chief  industry  in  this  part  of  the  world  is 
sheep  raising,  and  some  large  fortunes  have  been  made  in  this 
business.  There  is  good  grass  in  the  small  valleys  between 
the  mountains  and  on  the  lower  mountain  sides,  so  that  the 
sheep  live  by  grazing  all  the  year  round.  The  quality  of  these 
flocks  is  the  best:  the  wool  and  mutton  high  grade.  This 
wool  is  shipped  in  bales,  and  the  mutton  may  be  delivered  in 
frozen  carcass  to  any  part  of  Euroi)e  in  the  best  condition. 
On  leaving  Punta  Arenas  we  had  several  hoiu's  of  sailing 
before  getting  out  of  the  strait  and  into  the  .Atlantic  ocean. 
On  this  part  of  the  strait  the  country  is  \ery  flat  and  low. 
almost  on  a  level  with  the  sea.  but  there  is  some  grass  grow- 
ing on  these  low  lands,  and  there  are  large  cattle  and  shcej) 
ranches  on  tliem.  .\t  several  places  along  this  eastern  coast 
there  arc  abattoirs,  or  slaughter  houses,  where  the  cattle  and 
sheep  are  made  ready  for  the  market,  and  shipped  almost  di- 
rect from  the  pasture  to  Europe — no  expense  for  railway. 
These  growers  of  wool,  mutton  and  beef  can  undersell  the 
American  product,  and  still  make  a  large  profit,  but  their  meat 
cannot  be  as  good  (juality  as  our  corn-ted  animals.  The  fish 
in  these  cold  southerti  w.aters  are  excellent.  We  ate  "Sea- 
Spiders,"  and  their  meat    was  better  than   lobster.      They  are 

7') 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


RIO  JANEIRO 

something  like  the  lobster,  and  evidently  of  the  lobster  family, 
but  are  more  hideous  and  repulsive  in  appearance,  similar  to 
a  great  big  spider  that  would  weigh  fifteen  pounds.  This 
morning  we  saw  four  large  whales  playing  in  the  sea,  not  far 
from  our  steamer,  and  we  have  seen  a  few  seals.  There  are 
plenty  of  sealskins  for  sale  in  Punta  Arenas,  but  the  United 
States  customs  prohibits  their  entry,  we  did  not  purchase. 
This  is  the  home  of  the  albatross,  but  we  did  not  see  any,  as  it 
is  probably  their  hatching  season,  and  they  are  nesting  on 
shore. 


RIO  JANEIRO 

On  the  morning  of  March  nth.  191 1.  we  were  called 
early  to  see  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  of  Rio  Janeiro.  It 
is  called  in  this  part  of  the  world  "Reo."  As  we  had  so 
often  been  told  of  this  beautiful  harbor,  we  made  haste  to 
go  on  the  hurricane  deck  to  view  the  scene.  The  sun  was 
just  rising,  and  throwing  a  hazy  mellow  light  over  the  sea. 
and  the  mountain  cliff.  We  were  soon  at  the  "Entrada," 
which  is  guarded  by  two  granite  mountains,  one  on  each  side. 
These  mountains,  1200  to  1500  feet  high,  are  so  rugged 
and  steep  that  no  vegetation  can  grow  on  them,  and  form  a 
natural  defense  to  the  entrance  of  the  harbc^r.  The  channel 
through  which  we  entered  is  one  mile  wide,  water  very  deep. 
On  either  side  are  many  big  guns  ready  to  call  a  halt  on  any 
craft  that  is  not  satisfactory  to  Brazil.  As  our  mission  was 
entirely  peaceful  we  entered  without  challenge,  and  passed 
near  the  two  largest  Brazilian  l)attleshii)s  which  were  lying 
just  inside  the  harbor,  and  wc  were  soon  at  anchor  in  the 
central  part  of  this  great  port.  We  took  a  launch  for  transfer 
from  our  ship  to  the  shore.  On  the  way  wc  sailed  past  the 
army  barracks  which  were  bombarded  by  the  sailors  of  the 

81 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


a 


■«  to 

m  ft 
o5 

i-j  > 

o 

o  s 

Oh   O 
O   g 


H 


a 


RIO  JAXEIRO 

two  large  battleships  heretofore  mentioned,  which  re- 
volted quite  recently,  killed  one  of  their  captains,  and  sent 
all  the  other  officers  ashore,  and  then  demanded  that  the 
Brazilian  congress,  which  was  at  that  time  in  session,  should 
pass  laws  giving  them,  the  sailors,  better  wages,  better  treat- 
ment by  the  officers,  shorter  hours,  and  grant  them  amnesty 
for  their  revolt.  The  Brazilian  government  was  facing  a 
dilemma,  as  these  two  large  battleships  had  just  been  bought 
at  a  cost  of  ten  million  dollars,  gold.  They  could  not  afford 
to  turn  their  forts  on  these  warships  and  sink  them,  in  order 
to  subdue  the  revolutionists,  and  they  did  not  feel  they  could 
grant  amnesty  to  these  revolutionary  sailors :  they  naturally 
hesitated.  In  order  to  make  the  congress  realize  that  they 
must  act  quickly,  these  two  warships  opened  fire  on  the  city, 
dropping  several  shells  in  the  densly  populated  part  of  Rio  Ja- 
neiro. These  did  no  great  damage,  although  uncomfortable 
for  the  residents.  Xext  day  they  turned  their  guns  on  the 
barracks,  which  were  occupied  by  thousands  of  soldiers,  and 
located  along  the  shore  at  an  elevation  of  about  fifty  feet 
above  the  waters  of  the  harl)or.  In  passing  from  our  steamer 
to  our  landing  place  the  "Quay  Pharoux"  we  were  quite  close 
to  these  barracks.  We  counted  the  cannon  ball  holes  made 
in  the  walls.  The  first  barrack  had  twenty  cannon  holes ; 
the  second  thirty  holes,  and  the  third  thirty  holes  in  each  build- 
ing, and  several  in  the  water  tank,  making  in  all  over  eighty 
cannon  balls,  which  t<^ok  effect  or  went  through  the  walls  of 
these  buildings.  As  the  government  could  not  afford  to  let 
the  army  or  navy  fire  on  these  new  warships,  the  soldiers  did 
not  have  an  opportunity  to  defend  themselves,  and  must  have 
beat  a  hasty  retreat.  Then  the  government  passed  a  law 
granting  amnesty  to  these  revolting  sailors,  as  well  as  all 
their  other  demands.  When  this  was  done  the  revolutionists 
turned  the  battleships  o\cr  to  the  government  and  surrendered. 
We  asked  what  had  become  of  these  "revolutionary  sailors." 
as   this   revolt   occurred   about    three   months   ago.    and    were 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


^  S 

N 

^^ 

O  0) 

<f  >» 
CD  a 

«  S 

^^ 
Z  a 

M  a 

r.    Q 

>c3 


RIO  JANEIRO 

told  "they  have  disappeared."  It  was  intimated  that  they  had 
been  put  to  death;  whether  this  last  statement  is  true  we  have 
no  means  of  ascertaining,  but  if  it  is  true,  and  the  government 
did  not  comply  with  its  part  of  the  agreement,  as  to  amnesty, 
then  the  Brazilian  government  is  not  of  much  higher  order 
of  integrity  than  its  disloyal  sailors. 

Immediately  on  reaching  the  quay  we  hired  an  automo- 
bile and  started  for  a  sight-seeing  drive  about  the  city.  We 
first  drove  to  the  "Avenida  Central,"  which  is  a  fine  large 
boulevard  about  150  feet  wide  and  one  and  a  quarter  miles 
long,  through  the  center  of  the  city,  with  a  row  of  electric 
lights  and  trees  down  the  center;  at  one  end  of  this  famous 
street  stands  the  "Monroe  Palace,"  which  was  built  at  the  St. 
Louis  Exposition,  and  afterwards  removed  to  its  present  loca- 
tion. It  is  one  of  the  handsomest  buildings  in  Rio,  and  is 
pointed  to  with  great  pride  by  the  natives.  The  other  end  of 
this  great  Avenida  terminates  at  the  new  city  quay,  now 
being  built  at  an  expense  of  45  million  dollars,  gold.  This  street, 
or  Avenida  is  called  "the  eleven  million  dollar  boulevard,"  per- 
haps because  that  was  the  cost  of  the  many  fine  buildings  situ- 
ated upon  it.  From  there  we  drove  down  the  "Avenida  Biera 
Mar,"  a  wide  pleasure  drive  along  the  shore.  This  fashion- 
able drive  has  a  double  roadway  for  automobiles,  each  about 
fifty  feet  wide,  so  that  machines  going  in  one  direction  have 
all  their  road  to  themselves.  These  streets  are  so  hard  and 
smooth  that  they  are  nearly  perfect.  Alongside  this  double 
automobile  drive  is  a  third  driveway  for  the  use  of  carriages, 
wagons  and  street  cars,  all  three  with  grass  plats  and  flower 
beds  between  them  are  about  200  feet  wide.  They  curve 
around  the  bay  in  a  circular  way  which  is  most  charming.  Along 
the  greater  part  of  this  drive  is  a  beautiful  park,  and  beyond 
that,  on  the  mountain  side,  are  many  handsome  residences. 
Part  of  the  way  the  mountain  rises  beside  the  driveway  with 
the  most  beautiful  homes  built  upon  its  sides,  some  of  them  at 
a  little  elevation,  and  some  at  a  great  elevation,  shaded  by 
tall  royal  palm  trees,     ^\'ith  this  scene  on  one  side,  and  the 

85 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


F               ''  flBKflM^.— '       '"'^^■i^^^^^V 

f     ' 

1 

■  i^lF'  -      .tiJT        ii^^^H,  ii!    -r      ir " 

\  i  . 

^-j 

1 

■  -J 

.^             ;     '**"^7*-:"«»'^*ik       "'-i"'''^-  ■-  *"             '  1^1 

1 

'  "' 

^ 

m^^- 

1 

"^      ^  ^^B^^^^i^lllHIHf»vi 

f 

Jll^^H^ 

1'  fsri  .1^ 

^Bili 

©■-11 

^^-    -isfj'^ 

^^^^^^^               mm^*%.-^^-  dvrum-  ■ 

m^^^^^Pr 

--lap 

HiH 

if 

»'«:_JfetJ 

:«  %-  •  ^'^i^BiHaipii^^iiP;:;,*.*-.^^ 

:i 

L   •! 

wi 

IP   - 

yai^^-   v^!*h.^»a«wpi«"»»^^i»«iB«i 

ifl 

-^^H 

RIO  JAXEIRO 

bay  on  the  other,  the  drive  is  most  dehghtful.  At  the  lower 
end  of  this  drive  the  roadway  cuts  under  the  mountain  in  a 
wide  tunnel,  and  emerges  on  the  sea  shore  at  a  surf  bathing 
resort.  There  is  quite  a  little  city  along  the  sea  shore,  separ- 
ated from  Rio  by  the  mountain,  and  on  account  of  the  tunnel, 
which  has  recently  been  completed,  is  rapidly  building  up. 
A  street  car  line  makes  the  trip  to  and  from  the  city  from  this 
point  quite  easy.  After  drixing  along  this  seaside  resort 
for  half  an  hour  or  more,  our  automobile  exploded  a  tire, 
although  we  had  a  chaffeur  and  an  assistant,  they  were  not 
well  experienced  in  replacing  a  bursted  tire,  and  it  was  evident 
that  too  much  of  our  valuable  time  would  be  lost  if  we  waited 
for  them  to  make  the  repair.  The  sun  was  hot,  and  accord- 
ingly we  left  the  automobile  and  continued  our  trip  via  street 
car  line.  There  are  not  many  horses  in  Rio.  nearly  all  the 
carriage  teams  are  mules,  many  of  them  make  excellent  and 
handsome  pleasure  driving  teams,  and  they  move  along  at  a 
rapid  gait.  On  returning  to  Rio  we  immediately  went  out  to 
the  International  Hotel  for  lunch.  This  hotel  is  looo  feet 
above  the  city.  T<^  get  there  we  took  a  street  car  that  climbed 
the  side  of  the  mountains.  In  a  few  minutes  we  were  run- 
ning along  a  stone  arch-way,  built  300  years  ago,  as  an  aque- 
duct to  bring  the  water  down  from  the  mountains  for  the 
city.  This  structure  is  100  feet  high,  and  still  strong  enough 
to  carry  a  street  car  line,  in  addition  to  the  waterway.  We 
had  a  great  view  from  this  point  over  the  city,  and  our  road 
was  continually  climbing  and  winding  around  the  mountain, 
here  and  there  giving  us  a  delightful  view  of  the  city  far 
l)el<)w.  There  are  many  beautiful  residences  built  along  this 
road,  on  the  mountain  side,  some  of  them  have  the  appear- 
ance of  ha\ing  been  built  a  great  many  years  ago.  as  the  beau- 
tiful tall  royal  i)alm  trees,  which  are  of  slow  growth,  are 
planted  in  long  avenues  and  often  100  feet  high.  The  Inter- 
national Hotel  is  beautifull)-  situated  and  it  is  a  delightful  trip 
of  half  an  hour  from  the  central  part  of  Rio.  l^he  manager 
and  all  the  miployees  speak    Portuguese;  as  our   F^ortuguese 

87 


was  not  up-io-date.  it  required  some  diplomacy  to  get  what 
we  wanted  for  lunch,  but  we  did  it  after  some  effort,  and  it, 
the  lunch,  was  very  good.  x\fter  lunch  we  went  further  up 
the  mountains,  to  Sylvester,  where  we  changed  to  the  "Rack- 
Road,"  which  is  simply  a  cog  rail  in  the  middle  of  the  track, 
and  went  up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  "Corcovada."  On 
the  way  there  is  a  precipice,  or  drop,  of  2,000  feet.  It  is  only 
four  or  five  feet  from  the  track  to  the  edge,  the  road  being 
cut  into  the  side  of  the  rock,  and  very  steep  at  this  point, 
at  least  twenty-five  per  cent  incline.  While  we  were  pushing  up 
this  part  of  the  ascent  our  trolley  slipped  off  the  wire  and  we 
dropped  back  about  fifteen  feet  before  the  automatic  clutch 
stopped  us.  In  the  slip  back  the  trolley  pole  raised  up  and 
caught  across  the  iron  rod  which  is  built  to  carry  the  trolley 
wire.  This  put  the  train,  consisting  of  one  motor  car  and  one 
passenger  car.  in  a  bad  fi.x,  as  they  could  not  move  up,  and 
to  release  the  automatic  clutch  might  have  thrown  us  over  the 
precipice.  After  consultation  it  was  decided  to  hold  our  grip 
and  telephone  to  Rio  for  another  motor  to  come  to  our  release. 
This  was  done  and  it  took  just  one  hour  to  get  the  motor  to 
us,  and  during  this  time  we  were  hanging  there  on  the  brink 
of  the  precipice.  Of  course,  the  view  was  grand  and  awe  in- 
spiring, but  some  of  the  passengers  did  not  like  the  situation 
and  climbed  out  of  the  car,  finishing  the  ascent  on  foot,  al- 
though the  climb  was  long  and  steep,  and  the  sun  very  hot  at 
that  hour,  three  p.  m.  The  extreme  top  of  Corcovada  is  2,500 
feet  high,  and  on  this  point  is  built  an  iroi\  cupola  called  "Cor- 
covada's  Umbrella,"  with  side  walls  to  prevent  accidents.  Al- 
though it  is  laborious  to  get  to  this  peak,  as  one  must  climb 
almost  straight  up  for  about  200  feet  after  leaving  the  rail- 
wav,  yet  the  result  amply  pays  for  the  labor.  The  sky  was 
perfectly  clear  and  the  panorama  was  the  finest  we  have  ever 
seen,  or  expect  to  see  in  the  future.  The  city  lies  far  below 
us.  almost  under  us.  From  this  elevation  we  have  a  view 
similar  to  that  of  looking  down  from  a  balloon.  W'e  could 
not  distinguish  individuals  walking  on  the  street  below,  and 

89 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


RIO  JANEIRO 

street  cars  in  the  city  look  no  more  than  an  inch  long.  The 
majestic  mountain  peaks  around  us  were  lower  than  we,  ex- 
cept Tujuca.  which  was  above  us,  as  it  is  4,000  feet  high. 
After  enjoying  the  enchanting  scene  for  a  while,  we  descended, 
stopping  at  a  beautiful  mountain  side  resort,  *'Paineiras," 
for  a  short  time,  and  then  sliding  down  the  "Rack  Rail"  to 
Rio.  and  through  the  city  by  tram  car  for  three  miles  past 
many  delightful  homes,  built  in  private  parks  with  the  very 
best  arrangements  for  keeping  cool,  as  Rio  is  a  hot  climate. 
We  were  so  pleased  with  Corcovada  that  we  went  to  the  top 
again  and  enjoyed  every  moment  of  the  trip.  There  is  a 
fairly  good  hotel  at  "Paineiras,"  about  500  feet  below  the 
top  of  the  mountain,  which  has  a  fine  shady  walk,  with  a 
great  view  over  the  mountain  side  to  the  valley  2.000  feet  be- 
low. Here  the  famous  aqueduct  begins,  which  carries  the 
sparkling  cool  mountain  water  to  Rio.  It  was  built  300  years 
ago,  of  concrete  and  stone,  and  is  still  giving  good  service. 
For  the  first  part,  it  is  an  open  trough,  carrying  a  stream 
of  clear  water,  but  a  little  further  down  where  the  volume  of 
water  is  greater,  it  is  covered  over.  This  stone  aqueduct  is 
usually  from  six  to  twelve  feet  high,  and  about  half  as  wide, 
and  much  of  it  is  moss  covered.  It  winds  around  the  moun- 
tain side  until  it  finally  gets  down  to  the  city,  and  the  last 
200  feet  is  carried  over  the  high  stone  arches  heretofore  men- 
tioned, which  also  serve  to  carry  the  street  cars  at  this  time. 
This  water  line  is  probably  twenty  miles  long,  and  to  build 
it  now  would  be  a  tremendous  undertaking.  How  much 
greater  was  the  effort  when  it  was  built.  One  beautiful  morn- 
ing, in  company  with  an  educated  native  Brazilian,  who  had 
spent  several  years  in  Europe,  and  spoke  English  fluently,  as 
well  as  several  other  languages,  we  set  out  in  a  new  Damlier 
automobile  for  a  trij)  to  Tujuca,  the  highest  mountain  penk 
in  the  \icinity  of  Rio.  being  4.000  feet,  and  \ery  al)rui)t.  The 
roa<l  is  fairly  well  graded,  and  macadamized  and  has  endless 
numbers  of  curxes.  in  fact,  we  were  always  on  a  curxo.  .\s 
soon    as    we   had    rounded    one   cur\e.    another    would    begin, 

91 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


RIO  JANEIRO 

and  in  one  place  the  turn  was  so  sharp  that  our  automobile 
was  compelled  to  stop  and  back  a  few  feet  to  make  the  turn; 
as  this  was  near  a  high  precipice,  and  not  a  sign  of  a  railing 
to  prevent  backing  off,  the  lady  in  our  automobile  immediately 
decided  she  would  get  out.  In  fact,  a  great  many  of  the  curves 
were  on  the  brink  of  tremendous  declivities,  with  our  machine 
going  at  a  speed  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  miles  an 
hour,  and  not  being  accustomed  to  such  dangerous  roads,  we 
did  not  feel  at  all  safe. 

It  was  well  that  we  had  our  native  speaking  Brazilian 
along  with  us,  as  we,  through  him.  were  continually  demand- 
ing that  the  chaffeur  go  slower,  which  seemed  almost  unreal 
to  the  chaffeur,  as  they  usually  go  at  a  break-neck  speed  at  all 
times,  around  sharp  curves  almost  the  same  as  over  straight 
roads.  We  drove  from  the  quay  to  the  waterfall,  more  than 
half  way  to  the  top  of  the  mountains  in  forty-five  minutes, 
such  rapid  driving  on  such  mountain  climbing  was  hard  on  the 
new  machine,  as  it  was  the  first  trip  it  had  ever  made.  The 
momentary  stop  probably  saved  us  from  an  accident,  as  we 
felt  the  tires  and  found  them  very  hot,  and  the  water  in  the 
radiator  was  boiling;  when  the  chaffeur  undertook  to  remove 
the  cap  to  put  in  more  water,  it  blew  off  and  scattered  the 
water  and  steam  over  all  of  us,  which  caused  us  to  evacuate 
the  machine  so  hastily  that  the  lady  was  slightly  injured. 
After  filling  the  water  tank  with  cold  water,  and  waiting  until 
the  tires  were  cooled  off.  our  rapid  driving  chaffuer  realized 
that  it  was  necessary  to  go  a  little 'slower,  much  to  our  satis- 
faction. On  the  highest  point  on  this  drive  we  had  a  won- 
derful and  grand  view  of  the  city  and  its  surroundings,  far 
below.  On  our  drive  down  the  mountains  we  stopped  at  a 
Grotto,  formed  by  the  rocks  on  the  mountain  side;  there  are 
several  small  caves  at  this  place,  and  a  beautiful  stream  of 
clear  mountain  water  tumbling  over  the  rough  and  rocky  bed. 
A  dispenser  of  drinks  had  located  his  place  of  business  under 
a  great  rock,  which  forms  a  natural  tunnel  at  the  entrance  of 
this  Grotto.     We  spent  a  short  time  here  where  nature  has 

93 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


RIO  JANEIRO 

made  tlie  place  so  beautiful,  aud  then  returned  to  our  landing 
place  on  the  water-front,  having  been  out  three  hours  and 
thirty  minutes,  and  traveled  seventy-five  miles  over  the  wild- 
est mountain  roads  and  through  the  grandest  scenery  to  be 
found  in  this  land  of  scenic  wonders.  Some  others  who  made 
this  same  drive  the  same  day  did  not  fare  so  well.  An  auto- 
mobile containing  six  people  plunged  over  the  cliff  on  one  of 
the  short  turns;  none  of  the  party  were  killed,  as  it  was  not 
on  a  i)recipice.  but  the  automobile  slid  down  through  the 
small  trees  and  brush  about  seventy-five  feet,  and  all  were 
more  or  less  bruised.  The  Brazilian  chaffeur  and  police  of- 
ficer were  severely  hurt:  it  may  be  that  they  died  after  we 
left  the  port,  and  Mr.  Xickerson.  of  Somerville.  Mass.,  one 
of  our  ship's  passengers,  was  so  seriously  injured  in  the  back 
and  legs  that  he  may  be  crippled  for  life. 

I*etropolis.  about  thirty  miles  out  from  Rio;  population 
20.000,  is  3,000  feet  higher  than  Rio;  we  went  out  there  by 
rail.  "Jlie  road  first  runs  through  several  miles  of  level  coun- 
try, mostly  covered  by  dense  tropical  jungle,  occasionally  the 
small  house  of  a  nati\e  family  appears.  This  land  is  only  a 
few  miles  from  Rio,  near  the  sea  level,  very  fertile,  and  could 
be  made  a  garden  spot  if  sufficient  labor  was  expended  upon 
it.  At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  our  locomotive  was  exchanged 
for  three  "rack-road"  locomotives,  which  pushed  our  small 
train  of  three  cars  about  ten  miles  up  the  mountain.  The 
climb  was  very  interesting:  we  gave  it  due  attenti(Mi  every 
moment.  Some  of  these  granite  mountains  arc  so  abrupt  on 
all  sides  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  any  man  ever  to  sec 
the  top.  unless  he  should  go  u])  in  a  balloon.  The  town  of 
I'etropolis  is  the  residence  of  most  of  the  foreign  ministers 
and  consuls  who  are  .sent  to  Rio.  The  elexation  makes  the 
climate  a  pleasure  all  the  year,  while  the  tall  royal  palms  and 
tropical  vegetation  grow  to  perfection.  There  is  a  mountain 
stream  running  down  the  middle  of  the  streets  in  Petropolis. 
with  a  driveway  (»n  either  side,  and  much  space  dexoted  to 
public  parks,  which  are  kept  in  beautiful  condition.    The  nionn- 

0.^ 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


Q 
< 

O 

m 
o 

S 

H 

m 
o 

o 


RIO  JANEIRO 

tain  peaks  rise  500  feet  above  the  town  on  all  sides.  The  cool 
and  invigorating  air  makes  the  place  an  ideal  spot  for  a  resi- 
dence for  a  man  who  does  not  have  much  business  and  is  pos- 
sessed of  means  enough  to  permit  him  to  enjoy  life  where  he 
prefers.  The  American  College  for  Girls  is  located  here,  in  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  parks  in  the  world.  Many  palatial  resi- 
dences situated  in  large  grounds  which  have  been  made  beauti- 
ful by  nature,  assisted  by  the  landscape  gardener,  making  this 
young  city  a  place  long  to  be  remembered  with  pleasure.  The 
harbor,  Rio  Janeiro,  has  long  been  called  the  most  beautiful  in 
the  world,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  that  distinction; 
we  sailed  around  it  one  fine  morning  and  can  hardly  say  too 
much  in  its  praise.  It  is  about  twenty  miles  long  and  three  to 
five  miles  wide,  with  water  deep  enough  to  float  the  largest 
ships.  There  are  many  islands,  those  nearest  the  city  occu- 
pied by  army  and  navy  buildings,  while  those  farther  out 
have  many  beautiful  homes  and  boat  clubs.  The  crowning 
beauty  of  Rio  harbor  is  in  its  setting  in  mountain  surroundings. 
In  whatever  direction  we  look  the  sky  line  is  cut  up  with  the 
most  scenic  mountain  peaks  to  be  seen  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  The  Sugar  Loaf  mountain,  1.500  feet  high,  with  one 
side  almost  perpendicular,  standing  guard  as  a  sentinel  at 
the  harbor  entrance.  The  Corcovada,  with  its  sharp  peak 
2,500  feet  high,  surmounted  by  the  C(^rcovado  Umbrella  and 
Tujuca,  which  is  still  taller,  piercing  the  sky  with  its  sharp 
peak,  and  many  others,  form  a  chain  around  this  magnificent 
harbor,  which  for  beauty  in  itself  and  surroundings  is  hardly 
equalled. 

The  market  place  in  Rio  is  well  worth  visiting,  just  to 
see  the  strange  things  they  have  for  sale  on  the  market  in 
Brazil.  It  is  a  large  market,  covering  at  least  two  ordinary 
city  blocks,  with  streets  about  forty  feet  wide,  well  paved, 
and  no  doubt  washed  clean  with  hose  and  water  at  the  close 
of  business  every  day :  notwithstanding  the  effort  to  keep 
this  section  strictly  sanitary,  it  had  a  rank  and  unpleasant 
odor  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  were  there.    The 

97 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


-a" 
-  a) 

8.S 

O  <i-i 

CO   c 


^     CO 
O    01 


be 
o  c 

si  ^ 


cti    c 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


o 

O 
« 
H 

P- 

o 
en 


RIO  JANEIRO 

articles  for  sale  included  the  octopus,  or  devil  fish,  also  many 
small  rat-like  animals  with  monkey  face,  called  Marmosets. 
They  are  a  species  of  monkey,  about  the  size  of  a  small  kit- 
ten, and  have  a  monkey,  or  human  face  in  appearance,  with 
feet  shaped  like  human  hands;  they  are  very  timid,  and  will 
nestle  in  your  pocket  if  you  give  them  an  opportunity.  There 
was  also  a  fine  assortment  of  larger  monkeys,  about  a  foot  tall, 
like  those  carried  around  in  America  by  the  organ  grinder. 
All  these  are  natives  of  Brazil,  and  are  found  in  the  jungles 
in  this  section ;  there  were  also  many  kinds  of  birds  with  bright 
plumage,  including  most  beautiful  parrots,  as  well  as  a  great 
variety  of  everything  that  can  be  used  for  food. 

The  light  and  power  company  of  Rio  Janeiro,  owned  by 
United  States  and  Canadian  stockholders,  have  a  large  and 
valuable  property  here.  They  own  all  the  street  railways  in 
the  city  and  have  covered  the  principal  streets  with  their 
tracks,  except  those  Avenidas  that  are  reserved  entirely  for 
carriages  and  automobiles.  They  also  control  the  car  lines 
to  the  nearby  mountain  resorts,  furnish  all  the  electric  lights 
in  this  city,  and  own  the  city  gas  light  plant.  They  charge 
200  Reis.  equaled  to  seven  cents,  for  a  short  ride.  If  you  go 
a  little  farther,  they  charge  400  Reis,  and  if  still  a  little 
farther,  they  charge  800  Reis.  so  that  some  of  the  long  rides 
cost  from  64  to  96  cents,  gold.  They  are  continually  adding 
to  their  lines,  and  are  now  putting  up  a  large  office  building 
for  their  own  use.  All  their  power  is  made  by  water  power 
several  miles  out  in  the  mountains,  and  they  have  more  than 
twice  the  power  that  is  now  in  use.  While  their  ordinary 
labor  is  the  native  help,  and  a  few  of  their  foremen  and  of- 
fice force  are  Brazilians,  most  of  their  employees,  where  ability 
is  required,  are  from  the  United  States  or  Canada.  The  man- 
agement is  altogether  from  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
and  iriost  of  their  office  force  also.  As  we  were  going  up  the 
mountain  to  the  International  Hotel,  we  met  two  young  men 
who  were  clerks  in  the  Light  and  Power  Company  office: 
when  they  learned  that   we  were  Americans  they  were  de- 

lOI 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


S3 
< 

d 

►-5 

o 

2 

<;" 

Q 

> 

o 

o 

u 

fa 
o 


o 

fa 

a 
g 

5 

Pi 

-S3 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


ROCK  CAVERN  ON  MOUNTAIN   TUJUCA. 
Near  Rio  Janeiro,  Brazil. 


RIO  JANEIRO 

lighted  to  talk  with  us,  as  they  were  homesick.  I  asked  one 
of  them  where  he  was  from,  he  said  Hannibal,  Missouri;  this 
is  a  great  state,  and  has  her  sons  scattered  in  many  parts  of 
the  earth.  Rio  has  a  great  many  handsome  public  buildings, 
among  the  most  beautiful  is  the  Municipal  Opera  House,  com- 
pleted two  years  ago  at  a  cost  of  three  and  one-half  million 
dollars,  gold.  The  new  public  library,  also  treasury  building, 
all  located  on  Avenida  Central,  would  do  credit  to  any  capitol 
in  the  world.  The  City  of  Rio  Janeiro  is  located  22y2  degrees 
south  of  the  equator,  has  a  population  of  900,000,  Portu- 
guese, Indians  and  Negroes,  is  growing  rapidly,  and  by  many 
it  is  called  the  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world.  In  driving 
or  walking  one  may  turn,  in  passing,  either  to  the  right  or 
left,  both  are  proper  and  correct  in  Brazil.  The  street  num- 
bers are  all  even  on  one  side,  and  odd  on  the  other;  I  was 
looking  for  number  76,  Avenida  Central,  and  supposed  when 
I  came  to  number  yj,  it  would  be  directly  across  the  street, 
but  such  is  not  the  case,  as  I  found  number  76  about  two 
blocks  farther  down  the  street.  That  is  the  peculiar  way  they 
have  of  numbering  their  buildings ;  each  building  has  a  num- 
ber without  regard  to  the  street  front,  and  the  odd  numbers 
are  not  always  opposite  the  even  numbers ;  it  is  just  the  peculiar 
Portuguese  way  of  numbering  houses.  Rio  has  more  delight- 
ful summer  resorts  close  at  hand  than  any  other  place  we  have 
visited.  The  streets,  all  parks.  Central  and  suburbs,  are  kept 
remarkably  clean,  and  the  sidewalks  in  the  central  part  of  the 
city  are  many  of  them  laid  with  mosaic  in-laid  tile,  quite  ex- 
pensive, and  very  beautiful.  There  are  several  short  railway 
lines  that  run  out  from  Rio  from  100  to  300  miles,  and  one 
which  runs  to  Sao  I^aulo.  about  500  miles.  These  should 
bring  much  commerce  to  Rio  Janeiro,  as  the  country  is  very 
fertile,  but  the  land  back  a  few  miles  is  as  yet  mostly  a  tropical 
jungle,  and  ref|uires  great  effort  and  well  directed  L'd)or  to 
clean  it  up,  but  when  that  is  done  it  will  blossom  like  the  rose. 
One  great  obstacle  to  railroad  building  and  manufacturing 
is  the  lack  of  coal ;  there  is  no  coal  in  this  part  fif  P)razil.  and 

105 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


BAHIA 

but  little  in  any  part  of  South  America  on  the  east  coast.  All 
the  coal  we  saw  was  imported  from  England,  and  the  timber 
in  all  the  tropics  is  not  suitable  to  make  lumber  for  building 
purposes,  being  mostly  small  trunks,  about  the  right  size  for 
railroad  ties,  and  many  times  lOO  feet  tall.  It  is  valuable 
for  making  dye  woods  and  for  mahogany  furniture ;  also 
for  making  charcoal,  which  is  the  only  fuel  used  here  for 
cooking.  We  have  seen  scarcely  any  trees  large  enough  to  be 
called  saw  timber  in  any  part  of  South  America. 


BAHIA. 


This  city  was  founded  by  the  Portuguese  in  1549.  The 
correct  name  of  the  city  is  Sao  Salvador,  and  it  was  the  first 
capital  of  Brazil,  situated  thirteen  degrees  south  of  the  equa- 
tor; it  is  always  summer  time,  population  260.000.  and  90 
per  cent  of  them  are  negroes,  or  mixed  blood.  The  harbor 
is  a  wide  bay  open  to  the  sea,  and  although  it  was  very  calm 
the  day  we  entered,  we  think  it  would  be  a  poor  harbor  in  a 
storm.  Viewed  from  our  steamer,  it  looked  like  a  beautiful 
city,  as  warehouses  and  heavy  business  is  located  along  the 
sea  level;  this  part  of  the  city  is  called  "Low  Bahia."  The 
greater  part  of  the  city  is  built  on  an  elevation  of  about  200 
feet,  and  is  called  "High  Bahia" ;  elevators  are  located  at 
convenient  points  and  take  us  up  for  100  Reis.  or  about  three 
cents  for  the  trip.  We  called  at  Bahia  on  Sunday,  as  that 
was  the  only  day  our  steamer  would  remain  in  port,  and  took 
a  long  street  car  ride  over  the  entire  city  and  suburbs.  It 
was  in  fact  the  only  means  of  transportation  in  the  city,  as 
there  are  but  four  automobiles  here,  and  no  carriages  to  be 
seen  in  the  place;  no  doubt  there  are  a  few  carriages  in  Bahia. 
but  we  were  on  the  street  several  hours  and  did  not  see  one. 


107 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


STREET  SCENE,  BAHIA,  BRAZIL. 


BAHIA 

By  legal  regulation  no  man  can  ride  in  the  street  cars  here 
unless  he  wears  a  coat;  as  the  weather  was  very  warm,  some 
of  our  passengers  carried  their  coats  on  their  arms  and  were 
required  to  put  them  on  or  leave  the  car.  One  boy,  about 
fourteen  years  old,  in  our  party,  had  left  his  coat  on  the 
steamer  and  had  his  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up  to  his  elbows,  he 
was  forced  to  leave  the  car,  as  he  had  no  coat ;  we  had  never 
heard  of  a  rule  enforced  so  strictly,  but  it  is  no  doubt  a  good 
rule  for  Bahia.  The  donkey  and  mule  are  used  as  pack 
animals  to  carry  all  sorts  of  merchandise.  There  are  300 
churches  in  the  city,  and  it  is  the  most  strict  Sabbath  observ- 
ing place  we  were  ever  in.  Every  business  house  in  the 
central  part  of  the  city  was  closed,  except  the  butcher  shops; 
we  saw  many  places  open  for  the  sale  of  meat.  Out  in  the 
suburbs  it  was  quite  different,  as  that  part  of  the  population 
seem  to  use  the  Sabbath  as  a  general  wash  day,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  hills  were  covered  with  laundry  spread  out  to  dry. 
Quite  a  large  portion  of  the  population  are  negroes,  who  live 
in  the  poorest  kind  of  tumble-down  shacks,  without  floors, 
and  have  very  little  clothing,  and  that  very  inferior  and  rag- 
ged; this  part  of  the  people  are  the  kind  who  will  not  work 
unless  they  are  forced  by  hunger  to  do  so.  When  Bahia  was 
first  occupied  by  Portuguese  they  proceeded  to  make  the  na- 
tive Indians  their  slaves;  the  Jesuit  fathers  had  been  teaching 
these  Indians  and  had  converted  many  of  them,  having  great 
influence  over  them;  they  objected  to  the  Portuguese  plan 
of  forcing  them  into  slavery.  Thereupon,  the  master  Portu- 
guese proceeded  by  force  to  import  the  African  negro  into 
Bahia  as  slaves;  the  climate  suits  the  negro,  and  he  has  mul- 
tiplied much  faster  than  any  other  class.  These  slaves  were 
liberated  by  law  in  1888,  without  war  or  turmoil,  By  Dom 
Pedro  II.  They  have  so  increased  in  numbers  that  Bahia 
will  forever  be  a  negro  state ;  the  Portuguese  have  no  race 
prejudice,  and  there  is  no  color  line  in  Bahia,  everything  seems 
to  run  along  smoothly,  without  regard  t(^  race,  color  or  pre- 

109 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


BAHIA 

vious  condition  of  servitude.  We  visited  the  San  Francisco 
Cathedral,  which  is  over  300  years  old,  and  said  to  be  the 
richest  church  in  South  America ;  it  is  quite  similar  to  many 
of  the  churches  in  Spain,  but  has  more  gilded  carving  than 
any  other  church  we  ever  saw.  Extraordinarily  ornate,  the 
cloister  is  panelled  all  around  an  inside  square,  with  pictures 
of  the  Saints,  and  others,  in  blue  tile;  the  confessional  is  fin- 
ished in  walnut,  elaborately  carved.  The  San  Francisco  fath- 
ers are  very  proud  of  their  cathedral,  and  took  much  pleas- 
ure in  showing  our  party  around.  The  principal  crop  in  this 
section  is  tobacco.  The  value  of  this  product  is  about  twenty- 
five  million  per  year;  a  great  many  Bahia  cigars  are  made 
here,  of  fairly  good  quality,  and  much  tobacco  is  exported 
to  Europe.  The  oranges  grown  here  never  get  yellow,  but 
are  green  in  color  when  they  are  ripe;  they  are  very  large 
and  fine  flavor,  and  the  bananas  are  the  best  we  have  had  in 
South  America.  We  did  not  learn  how  much  cotton  is  raised 
in  this  section,  but  there  are  twelve  cotton  mills  here,  some 
of  them  large;  they  have  a  combined  capital  of  five  million 
dollars.  There  are  three  lines  of  railway  running  out  from 
Bahia  200  or  300  miles,  which  makes  some  business  for  the  city, 
but  it  does  not  look  prosperous;  in  general,  the  public  build- 
ings have  an  old  and  worn  appearance,  and  lack  of  paint.  The 
public  parks  are  not  kept  up  in  tidy  appearance.  ]Most  of  the 
streets  in  the  suburbs  are  not  paved ;  that  may  not  make  much 
difference,  as  they  apparently  do  not  u.se  wheeled  vehicles. 
Just  near  the  landing  where  we  disembarked  is  a  beautiful 
little  park  with  the  residence  of  a  government  official  in  the 
rear,  and  a  very  high  monument  in  front  for  Dom  Pedro  IT, 
who  was  the  greatest  emperor  of  J^)razil,  and  reigned  fifty- 
eight  years,  or  until  the  government  was  made  a  Republic. 
In  the  last  years  of  his  reign  the  slaves  were  liberated. 


I  I  I 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


o 

fin 


PARA. 


On  the  morning  of  March  24th,  191 1,  when  we  stepped 
out  on  the  promenade  deck,  we  found  the  Bhicher  slowly  nos- 
ing her  way  up  stream  on  the  great  Amazon  river.  This 
branch  of  its  several  mouths  is  known  locally  as  the  Para  river. 
As  there  was  no  land  in  sight  we  should  have  thought  we 
were  in  the  wide  ocean  had  it  not  been  for  the  dark  muddy 
color  of  the  water,  which  plainly  indicated  that  we  were  on 
the  Amazon.  After  a  few  hours  we  came  to  the  light-ship 
and  halted  long  enough  to  take  on  a  pilot,  as  the  mud  and 
sand  which  filled  the  water  are  continually  making  small 
islands  and  sandbars  and  so  changing  the  channel  that  it  re- 
quires a  pilot  who  is  every  day  on  this  stream,  to  keep  a  ship 
from  running  aground.  As  we  could  not  see  land  we  guessed 
that  this  arm  of  the  river  may  have  been  fifty  to  seventy-five 
miles  wide.  After  steaming  some  distance  up  the  river  we 
discovered  the  large  island  of  Marajo  on  our  starboard  side, 
as  large  as  some  of  the  small  states  of  our  union ;  a  few  miles 
further  up  the  river  and  we  began  to  see  in  the  distance  the 
low  flat  mainland  of  Brazil.  At  this  time  the  temperature 
was  eighty,  and  the  humidity  very  great.  The  sky  was  cov- 
ered with  dense  dark  clouds ;  drizzling  rain  was  falling  and 
the  mist  so  filled  the  air  it  was  hard  to  tell  whether  we  were 
breathing  air  or  water.  We  were  sailing  in  such  a  mixture 
of  water  and  earth  that  one  could  not  readily  determine  how 
much  of  earth  there  was  in  this  water,  or  how  much  of  water 
there  was  in  this  earth.  In  fact,  the  component  parts  of  our 
firmament  at  this  point  were  in  solution,  and  relative  propor- 
tions not  determined.  It  reminded  us  of  that  time  of  the 
creation  of  the  earth  when  the  scriptures  tell  us  that  the  earth 
was  without  form.  Indeed,  it  is  still  forming  here,  as  new 
islands  are  being  continually  made  and  the  mainland  increased 
by  the  loads  of  earth  in  solution  which  flows  down  the  great 
Amazon.  I^'or  eighty  miles  we  were  guided  up  stream  by  our 
river  pilot  to  the  city  of  Para,  which  we  reached  near  night 


SOUTH    AMERICA 


PARA 

in  a  deluge  of  rain.  This  we  were  told,  however,  should  be 
called  only  a  drizzle,  as  the  regular  rains  for  the  season  have 
not  yet  begun.  This  is  the  land  where  the  mosquito  thrives 
to  the  greatest  proportions.  However,  our  usual  good  luck 
attended  us,  and  we  did  not  see,  hear  or  feel  a  mosquito 
while  on  our  steamer,  for  which  we  were  duly  thankful.  We 
were  anchored  three  miles  off  from  the  city,  and  possibly  had 
not  been  found  by  Mr.  Mosquito,  who  has  the  credit  of  inocu- 
lating unwilling  victims  with  the  yellow  fever.  This  is  prob- 
ably the  originating  place  of  this  dread  pestilence,  and  there 
is  hardly  ever  a  time  when  there  is  no  yellow  fever  here.  A 
member  of  our  party  was  taken  suddenly  ill  four  days  after 
leaving  Para,  and  we  were  much  relieved  when  she  recovered 
without  having  the  yellow  fever.  Para,  or  Belem,  which 
is  the  local  name  of  the  city,  is  the  capital  of  the  state  of  Para, 
has  a  population  of  200,000,  Portuguese  and  Indians,  and  is 
situated  one  degree  south  of  the  equator.  The  next  morning 
the  sun  was  shining  and  we  were  sticky  and  hot  when  we 
went  ashore;  some  new  stone  docks  have  been  recently  con- 
structed, and  more  are  being  built;  also  several  large  dock 
warehouses  of  corrugated  iron  are  located  here.  The  ship- 
ping is  not  great  at  present,  as  there  were  only  a  few  vessels 
in  port;  it  is  not  the  active  shipping  season  for  rubber.  This 
port  ships  out  thirty-nine  million  dollars'  worth  of  crude  rub- 
ber per  annum,  while  Manaos.  which  is  further  up  the  river, 
exports  forty-five  million  dollars'  worth  of  crude  rubber  per 
annum,  both  together  do  nearly  all  the  crude  rubber  exporta- 
tion from  Brazil,  and  our  United  States  takes  over  half  of 
their  exports.  The  city  is  nearly  flat,  as  is  all  the  surrounding 
country,  and  is  nearly  300  years  old.  The  great  impetus  of 
the  rubber  trade  in  recent  years  has  benefited  Para,  and 
many  city  improvements  have  been  and  are  now  being  in- 
stalled. Electric  street  railway  lines  cover  the  most  import- 
ant streets,  electric  lights  and  telephones  are  in  general  use; 
water  pipes  and  sewer  pipes  are  being  laid ;  a  fine  new  rail- 
way station  is  nearing  completion :  there  are  many  automo- 

115 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


< 
m 

o 

H 
09 


PARA 

biles,  and  a  few  carriages ;  the  old  city  is  being  rejuvenated. 
Most  of  the  buildings  have  a  mossy  and  mouldy  look,  caused 
by  an  over  abundance  of  rain;  vegetation  of  all  kinds  has  a 
rank  and  tropical  growth  here.  We  never  saw  so  many  streets 
covered  with  grass,  yet  business  is  brisk  in  the  central  sec- 
tion for  a  tropical  city.  The  streets  in  the  central  part  are 
being  paved  with  granite  blocks,  and  the  outlying  districts 
are  not  generally  paved  at  all.  The  buildings  in  the  central 
part  are  two  or  three  stories,  with  many  beautiful  parks,  while 
the  suburbs  are  the  poorest  kind  of  tumble-down  shacks.  The 
people  seem  to  have  plenty  of  employment,  and  look  healthy 
and  strong;  the  infants  usually  go  entirely  naked  until  six 
or  eight  years  old.  The  parents  do  not  provide  clothing  for 
the  little  children  until  they  know  whether  they  will  live;  of 
course,  there  are  many  exceptions  to  this  rule  in  the  city. 
There  were  eleven  children  looking  at  us  from  two  windows, 
and  the  clothing  on  the  whole  lot  would  not  fill  the  pocket  of 
one  of  our  school  boys  in  our  United  States.  Fruit  and  flow- 
ers are  very  plentiful,  and  the  markets  filled  with  native 
products,  monkeys  and  parrots  of  endless  variety,  size  and 
quality  were  offered  for  sale  continually,  and  many  of  our 
passengers  bought,  and  are  taking  them  home.  We  have 
quite  a  collection  of  monkeys  and  parrots  on  board,  bound  for 
the  United  States.  As  we  left  Para  and  sailed  down  the  river 
the  sun  was  shining  and  gave  us  a  fine  view  of  the  country 
residences  which  are  located  along  the  shore  for  many  miles. 
There  are  very  pretty  homes,  with  wide  grass  plats  around 
them;  beautiful  palm  trees  and  a  wealth  of  tropical  verdure  of 
all  kinds,  the  darkest  green  we  have  ever  seen,  with  gravel 
drives  and  walks,  and  usually  a  small  boat  pier  to  each  resi- 
dence made  the  most  entrancing  scenery.  Further  down  the 
banks  were  solidly  covered  with  the  largest  tropical  trees  and 
almost  impenetrable  jungle,  for  the  greater  ])art  ne\er  ex- 
plored by  white  man  or  Ijjdian,  where  all  kinds  of  tropical 
animals,  birds  and  serpents  flourish  in  their  native  state, 
without  fear  of  molestation  by  man. 

1 17 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


FERN  TREES,  BOTANICAL  GARDEN,  RIO  JANEIRO,  BRAZIL. 


BRAZIL. 


Taking  this  country  as  a  whole,  it  has  a  larger  area  than 
the  United  States,  not  including  Alaska,  and  a  population  of 
twenty  millions,  lying  almost  entirely  in  the  tropics.  By 
reason  of  its  geographical  position,  being  such  a  hot  country, 
it  has  been  very  slow  to  fill  with  population.  The  weather 
is  generally  too  debilitating  to  encourage  a  white  man  to 
make  his  home  here.  Discovered  by  Pedro  Alveras  Cabral, 
a  Portuguese,  April  22nd,  1500,  only  eight  years  later  than 
the  date  when  Columbus  discovered  America,  compared  with 
United  States,  progress  has  been  very  slow.  In  Bahia  where 
the  people  are  almost  entirely  negroes,  they  will  increase  in 
numbers  rapidly,  as  this  climate  is  suited  to  them.  The  coffee 
and  rubber  industries,  both  of  which  have  been  recently  won- 
derfully profitable,  and  which  are  admirably  suited  to  Bra- 
zilian climate,  have  already  given  this  country  quite  an  impetus 
and  no  doubt  will  have  considerable  influence  in  peopling 
Brazil  in  future.  The  Brazilian  Empire,  taken  as  a  whole, 
however,  on  account  of  the  climatic  conditions,  is  so  far  in- 
ferior as  a  home  for  the  white  man  who  has  been  reared  in  the 
temperate  zone,  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  our 
country  becoming  depopulated  by  immigration  thither.  Still 
it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  places  for  a  visit,  as  nearly 
everything  in  this  wonderful  country  is  so  very  different 
from  our  own  fair  land,  the  people  and  their  customs  being 
all  new  and  strange  to  us.  The  Brazilians  have  a  very  friendly 
feeling  for  the  United  States,  and  well  they  may  have,  as 
they  sell  us  nearly  half  of  their  exports,  and  our  commercial 
relations  are  likely  to  become  even  more  intimate  in  the  fu- 
ture. As  United  States  becomes  more  densely  populated,  very 
likely  a  part  of  the  overflow  of  population  from  Europe, 
which  has  been  coming  to  us  may  be  turned  to  South  America 
and  cause  that  country  to  increase  or  develop  more  rapidly 
than  theretofore.  As  a  nati(Mi  our  United  States  are  growing 
rapidly  in  the  manufacturing  of  nearly  all  clas.ses  of  merchand- 

119 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


BRAZIL 

ise,  and  will  soon  need  a  foreign  demand  to  keep  our  factories 
going.  With  this  in  view,  our  congress  should  subsidize 
steamers  to  carry  our  mails  direct  to  all  South  American 
neighbors;  also  we  should  cultivate  by  every  means  in  our 
power,  the  most  friendly  relations  with  them.  We  have,  under 
the  Monroe  doctrine  shielded  them  from  foreign  invasion  for 
a  century,  yet  some  of  these  southern  Republics  still  have  an 
idea  that  we  want  some  of  their  territory.  We  should  treat 
them  so  generously  that  they  will  change  that  idea  and  believe 
what  is  true,  that  we  want  none  of  their  territory,  but  we  do 
want  their  trade. 


121 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST   INDIES 


o 

m 

< 

Q 
< 

H 

O 
H 


ST.  THOMAS 

On  February  27th,  1909,  we  sailed  for  a  month's  cruise 
in  the  West  Indies.  Our  first  stop  was  St.  Thomas,  a  Danish 
possession  in  the  tropics.  The  weather  was  like  July  in  the 
United  States,  we  suffered  with  the  heat  even  after  changing 
to  our  thinnest  summer  clothing.  This  little  harbor  is  very 
pretty,  being  almost  surrounded  by  land.  It  is  always  quiet 
and  deep  enough  for  large  ships.  Our  steamer  anchored 
about  a  half  mile  from  the  shore,  as  there  are  no  piers  or 
docks  here.  The  town  lies  in  a  semi-circle  around  the 
harbor  and  presents  a  beautiful  appearance  from  the  sea ;  the 
population  is  about  ten  thousand,  but  does  not  look  so  large; 
houses  mostly  built  of  cement  and  painted  white  with  red 
tile  roofs.  In  the  central  or  business  section  the  buildings 
are  generally  two  stories,  while  the  residences  are  one  story 
and  poor  at  that.  This  was  the  home  of  sea  pirates  in  days 
when  that  profession  was  lucrative,  and  the  most  prominent 
landmarks  in  the  city  are  two  pirate  castles  which  are  built 
on  the  tops  of  two  high  hills.  The  Blue  Beard  castle  is 
nearest  the  harbor  entrance  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
above  sea  level.  The  castle  itself  is  a  square  stone  building 
with  a  tower  which  has  a  winding  stair-case  rising  forty-six 
steps.  We  climbed  to  the  top  and  were  rewarded  with  a 
delightful  view  over  the  harbor  and  the  city.  This  castle 
was  built  so  long  ago  there  is  no  history  of  the  builders  or 
early  occupants,  but  the  location  was  well  chosen  and  the 
pirate  chief  could  view  the  ocean  for  some  miles  and  judge 
the  strength  of  all  craft  coming  into  the  harbor.  The  other. 
called  Black  Beard's  castle,  is  built  on  a  side  hill  above  the 
central  part  of  the  city,  a  very  well  chosen  home  for  the 
pirate,  as  he  could  view  every  ship  before  she  came  to  anchor, 

125 


WEST  INDIES 


BLUE   BEARD'S   CASTLE,    ST.   THOMAS. 


PORTO   RICO 

and  decide  whether  he  wished  to  be  at  home  to  callers  or 
not.  This  pirate  was  called  Black  Beard  because  he  wore 
a  long  black  beard,  but  his  real  name  was  Ed  Teach ;  he  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  fighter  and  a  terror  to  the  ships 
which  frequented  these  waters  two  hundred  years  ago.  Indeed 
he  became  such  a  menace  to  ships  sailing  West  India  waters 
that  the  Governor  of  Virginia  offered  a  reward  of  one  hund- 
red pounds  sterling  for  his  capture.  A  Yankee  sea  captain 
named  Maynard  had  an  encounter  with  Teach  and  during  the 
melee  the  pirate  accidently  got  in  the  way  of  a  bullet  and 
was  killed,  and  thus  ended  the  career  of  a  noted  bad  man. 

The  people  of  St.  Thomas  are  a  mixture  of  Negro, 
Danes,  French  and  Spaniards,  the  amalgamation  has  been 
going  on  for  three  hundred  years,  and  now  their  color  ranges 
all  the  way  from  jet  black  to  white;  their  language  is  Danish 
and  English,  both  being  taught  in  their  schools,  and  there  is 
apparently  no  race  prejudice  among  them,  all  colors  and  kinds 
associating  on  a  brotherly  equality. 


SAN  JUAN,  PORTO  RICO. 

We  landed  in  the  harbor  of  San  Juan,  Porto  Rico,  on 
March  4th,  1909.  This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
fertile  islands  in  the  West  Indies;  it  was  handed  to  us  by 
Spain  in  1898.  The  harbor  is  fine  and  well  protected  from 
storms,  but  is  not  deep.  A  government  dredge  is  now  con- 
tinuously in  use  to  make  it  deep  enough  for  the  largest  ships. 
The  city  of  San  Juan  is  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the 
island,  and  is  the  capital,  and  the  governor,  with  his  force 
of  assistants  and  the  United  States  troops,  are  located  there. 
It  is  a  walled  city  of  forty  tliousand  population,  and  mo.st 
of  the  old  walls  are  standing;  they  were  built  of  stone,  brick 
and  cement  about  three  hundred  years  ago  and  arc  not  easy 

127 


WEST  INDIES 


o 
o 

>-> 
< 


PORTO    RICO 

to  tear  down.  Old  Fort  Aloro,  which  guards  the  entrance 
to  the  harbor,  is  very  strong,  and  occupies  a  commanding 
situation  on  a  hill  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high  just  at 
the  harbor  entrance,  which  is  not  more  than  a  half  mile  wide  at 
this  point.  We  obtained  permission  from  the  commanding 
general,  and  inspected  the  fort ;  it  is  well  worth  the  time  and 
labor  to  see  this  ancient  and  massive  fortification ;  the  walls 
are  as  solid  and  strong  today  as  ever.  We  Americans  think 
we  know  something  about  the  use  of  cement  and  concrete, 
but  these  cement  walls,  which  are  not  steel  reinforced,  were 
built  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  will  stand  for  one  thous- 
and years  to  come,  and  then  require  dynamite  to  knock  them 
down.  Admiral  Sampson  threw  a  few  shells  into  this  old 
fort  when  he  was  hunting  for  the  Spanish  fleet,  but  did  not 
do  much  damage;  he  knocked  out  one  corner  of  the  wall  on 
the  sea  side  and  did  a  little  damage  on  the  inside,  but  so 
little  that  it  has  not  been  found  necessary  to  repair  it.  We 
climbed  to  the  top  and  the  view  from  that  point  is  certainly 
fine,  over  the  harbor  and  city.  We  had  thought  we  would 
take  a  few  shots  at  the  old  fort  ourselves,  but  the  soldier 
in  charge  at  the  gate  requested  us  to  leave  our  kodak  outside, 
and  on  this  account  we  regret  we  cannot  show  our  friends 
photos  of  the  inside  of  "Old  Moro."  The  city  inside  of  the 
walls  is  entirely  built  of  brick,  stone  and  cement,  walls  very 
heavy  and  thick.  The  houses  from  one  to  four  stories,  streets 
about  twenty  feet  wide,  sidewalks  two  or  three  feet  wide, 
and  the  same  style  of  architecture  as  Cadiz  and  Seville,  Spain, 
and  reminds  us  much  of  these  two  cities. 

San  Juan  is  built  on  the  hills,  streets  paved  with  brick, 
looks  very  clean  and  is  a  healthy  place.  We  took  a  ride  in  a 
railway  train  out  fifteen  miles  to  a  sugar  refinery.  This 
part  of  the  island  is  pleasantly  undulating  and  covered  with 
fields  of  sugar  cane,  pine  apples,  bananas,  and  dotted  here 
and  there  with  Palm  trees,  from  twenty  to  forty  feet  high, 
altogether  making  a  beautiful  landscape.  The  crop  of  sugar 
cane  now  being  harvested  is  said  to  yield  well,  although  the 

129 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST  INDIES 


WEST   INDIES 


PORTO    RICO 

cane  stalks  are  not  as  large  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere.  This 
sugar  cane  land  is  held  at  a  very  high  price;  the  sugar  busi- 
ness is  increasing  and  no  doubt  very  profitable. 

The  Porto  Rican  population  as  it  is  today  is  a  mixture 
of  the  negroes  who  were  brought  here  centuries  ago  as  slaves, 
and  Spanish  blood ;  they  range  in  color  all  the  way  from 
black  to  white,  but  usually  about  copper  color  or  a  shade 
darker.  They  are  fairly  good  day  laborers,  and  their  pay 
is  about  50  cents  per  day ;  they  do  not  as  a  usual  thing  work 
while  they  have  money.  If  they  can  supply  their  wants  by 
working  four  days  a  week  that  is  all  the  work  they  will  do, 
and  when  they  get  their  wages  will  not  work  again  until  they 
have  spent  it.  They  live  in  very  poor  houses  or  huts,  in  the 
country,  built  of  a  few  poles  covered  with  banana  leaves  for 
a  roof,  and  many  times  when  that  roof  is  worn  in  holes  they 
do  not  take  the  trouble  to  repair  it.  The  huts  are  built  on 
posts  two  or  three  feet  above  the  ground  to  give  free  air 
circulation  under  them,  making  it  cooler  and  more  healthy. 
They  use  almost  no  fire  at  all,  the  little  cooking  they  have 
is  done  with  charcoal ;  no  fire  is  used  for  heat  in  these  huts. 
and  in  fact  very  little  is  needed.  They  are  a  mild  mannered, 
pleasant  speaking  people,  not  given  to  contention  and  not 
hard  to  govern.  The  only  soldiers  now  in  the  island  are 
eight  hundred  native  Porto  Ricans ;  they  are  dressed  in 
khaki  uniforms  and  are  proud  to  be  soldiers  in  the  L'nited 
States  army.  As  a  general  thing  the  people  are  greatly 
pleased  to  be  under  the  United  States  rule  rather  than  under 
the  old  regime  of  Spanish  authority ;  and  still  there  are  some 
that  are  discontented  and  want  all  the  governing  power  left 
to  the  natives.  At  ])resent  their  laws  are  made  by  two  houses. 
the  lower,  or  representative  body,  is  elected  by  popular  votes 
of  the  people:  the  upper  house  is  appointed  by  our  I 'resident, 
five  being  Porto  Ricans  and  six  Americans.  The  highest 
federal  officers  in  the  island  are  appointed  as  the  six  .Ameri- 
can representatives.  All  the  taxes  are  used  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people.      .After  the  go\erning  expenses  arc  paid,   the 

1 3.=^ 


WEST  INDIES 


JAMAICA 

balance  is  spent  in  building  wagon  roads  tbroughout  the 
island.  The  United  States  Government  does  not  get  any 
of  the  taxes,  so  that  they  have  about  all  now  that  they  could 
in  justice  ask.  There  are  many  people  from  the  United  States 
located  here  in  business  and  farming.  This  influx  gives  an  air  of 
prosperity  to  the  whole  island.  Quite  a  city  has  been  built 
outside  the  walls,  on  the  main  land ;  these  houses  are  light 
frame  structures,  similar  to  many  cheap  homes  which  we 
see  in  the  United  States.  The  Swift  Packing  Company  and 
other  mercantile  interests  from  the  United  States  are  located 
in  San  Juan,  but  the  city  is  still  Spanish  in  all  respects  and 
very  little  English  is  spoken,  except  by  the  children  and  very 
young  people,  and  those  who  have  located  here  from  the 
United  States.  In  the  shops  or  stores  usually  one  clerk  will 
speak  English,  and  that  not  fluently,  but  the  Americans  have 
established  public  schools  almost  everywhere,  American  teach- 
ers are  employed.  Spanish  and  English  languages  are  taught, 
and  probably  in  fifty  years  the  English  will  be  generally  in 
use.  We  were  much  pleased  with  Porto  Rico,  and  if  we  had  a 
good  American  cook,  with  pleasant  company,  would  like  to 
camp  out  a  month  here,  visiting  the  whole  island. 


JAMAICA. 

W'q  arrived  at  King-ston  March  7th,  1909,  and  took  a 
train  at  once  for  Port  Antonio,  eighty-five  miles  across  the 
low  mountain  range  to  the  North  Coast.  This  railwav  is  well 
built,  but  the  country  is  .so  mountainous  it  was  verv  expensive 
to  build.  There  are  thirty-five  tunnels  on  the  line  and  the 
temperature  in  them  is  very  hot  and  suffocating;  time,  four 
hours  for  the  railway  trip.  On  the  north  side  of  the  island. 
the  whole  country  is  ccnered  with  banana  fields  and  cocoa- 
nut   palms,   on   mountain   side  and   plain,   evervwhere    is   the 

^^7 


WEST   INDIES 


KINGSTON 

banana;  the  trees  in  many  fields  average  fifteen  feet  high. 
This  part  of  the  island,  which  is  devoted  to  fruit  growing, 
is  quite  prosperous.  The  United  States  Fruit  Company,  an 
American  corporation,  who  own  many  thousand  acres  of 
banana  fields,  run  a  line  of  steamers  direct  from  Port  An- 
tonio to  Xew  York  to  transport  their  fruit.  One  would 
think  there  are  enough  bananas  grown  here  to  supply  the 
whole  world. 

\\'e  found  the  Hotel  Titchfield  most  desirable;  it  is 
splendidly  situated  on  a  small  peninsula,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  harbor,  on  a  hill  about  one  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  has  three  sides  facing  the  water.  It  is  a  large  frame 
structure,  size  about  four  hundred  by  one  hundred  feet,  four 
stories,  with  large  commodious  rooms,  an  elevator,  a  wide 
summer  veranda,  a  large  ball  room  and  an  excellent  band 
which  plays  twice  a  day.  also  a  good  swimming  place  in  the 
harbor;  the  grounds  have  beautiful  royal  palms,  cocoanut 
palms  and  tropical  flowers  in  profusion ;  an  ideal  hotel  to  tempt 
the  tourist  to  remain  for  an  indefinite  time. 


KINGSTON. 

The  capital,  population  claimed  si.xty  thousand,  is  situated 
on  the  .south  side  of  the  island  and  has  fine  large  harbor. 
deep  enough  for  our  steamer,  which  draws  twenty-five  feet, 
to  come  alongside  the  dock.  This  is  the  largest  city  and  the 
most  important  shipi)ing  point  on  the  island,  situated  on  level 
ground,  with  the  mountains  in  the  background,  the  effect  is 
pleasing.  The  earthquake  two  years  ago  nearly  destroyed 
the  business  section,  and  it  will  be  many  years  before  it  will 
be  completely  rebuilt.  I'p  to  the  present  time  comj)aratively 
little  rebuilding  has  been  done  and  many  blocks  lie  in  ruins 

139 


WEST  INDIES 


COCOA  TREE,  WITH  A  GOOD  CROP  OP  COCOA  BEANS. 
JAMAICA. 


KINGSTON 

as  they  were  left  after  the  destructive  quake.  Nearly  every 
church  in  the  city  was  destroyed.  The  residences  suffered 
little,  as  most  of  them  are  built  of  wood.  The  shops  or  small 
stores  are  doing  business  in  many  cases  in  improvised  build- 
ings and  hope  to  get  back  in  their  old  quarters  sometime. 
Some  parties  are  now  rebuilding,  using  the  reinforced  con- 
crete style  of  construction,  which  may  be  able  to  withstand 
future  shocks,  but  we  think  such  a  quake  as  destroyed  King- 
ston would  ruin  almost  anything  which  man  could  build. 

The  climate  in  Jamaica  is  very  mild  and  it  is  a  pleasant 
place  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  spend  the  winter ; 
usual  temperature  about  eighty  degrees  and  rather  humid, 
rainfall  eighty-seven  inches  per  annum ;  the  winter  is  their 
dry  season.  There  are  many  well  macadamized  graded  roads 
in  the  island,  two  thousand  miles  in  all.  and  the  seeker  for 
pleasure  will  find  the  automobile  a  first  class  method  of  visit- 
ing the  whole  island ;  there  are  plenty  of  automobiles  for  hire 
in  Kingston. 

The  island  has  belonged  to  England  since  Cromwell 
took  it  from  the  Spanish  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago.  The  population  are  mostly  negroes,  and  there  are  more 
full-blooded  black  negroes  here  than  we  have  seen  in  the 
other  West  India  Islands  we  have  visited.  The  English  do 
not  seem  to  amalgamate  as  readily  with  the  negroes  as  the 
Spanish.  The  Jamaican  negro  is  a  better  worker  than  the 
Spanish-Negro  mixture  of  Porto  Rico.  The  negroes  run  the 
railway  trains,  street  cars,  drive  carriages,  are  clerks  in  stores, 
work  at  the  trades,  work  on  the  plantation;  in  fact  they  occupy 
nearly  all  the  places  in  all  lines  of  labor  and  business.  The 
pilot  who  took  our  ship  out  of  the  harbor  was  a  negro.  1"lie 
English  own  most  of  the  business  firms  and  banks.  The 
Rank  of  Novia  Scotia  is  about  completing  a  \ery  fine  build- 

141 


WEST  INDIES 


APPULET  PALM,  JAMAICA. 


WEST   INDIES 


KINGSTON,   JAMAICA. 
After  the  Cocoanuts. 


WEST   INDIES 


KINGSTON 

ing    in    Kingston.      Many    Americans    are    also   engaged    in 
business  on  the  island,  also  some  Chinese  and  East  Indians. 

There  are  some  cattle  in  the  island,  and  most  of  the 
heavy  work  is  done  by  oxen,  with  a  straight  yoke  tied  to  their 
horns.  Goats  are  seen  almost  everywhere,  kept  for  their 
milk;  they  are  small,  not  more  than  half  as  large  as  those 
raised  in  the  United  States.  The  horses  used  here  are  similar 
to  the  Porto  Rican  ponies,  or  the  Philippine  ponies,  small, 
not  more  than  half  the  size  of  our  horses  and  generally  in 
poor  flesh,  as  they  do  not  get  enough  to  eat. 

The  products  of  Jamaica  are  anything  that  can  be  grown 
in  the  tropics :  We  saw  a  few  patches  of  Indian  corn  growing 
on  the  mountains,  but  their  principal  products  are  sugar, 
rum,  coffee,  pimento,  cocoa,  cocoanuts,  bananas  and  dye 
woods.  We  saw  many  logwood  trees  growing  in  the  mount- 
ains. There  is  one  large  Banyan  tree  in  the  public  park  in 
Kingston  which  covers  with  its  spreading  branches  more  than 
a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  ground,  very  thick  with  foliage. 

There  is  an  excellent  line  of  street  cars  in  Kingston, 
which  extends  several  miles  out  in  the  country.  One  line 
runs  to  the  Constant  Springs  Hotel,  six  miles  out;  this  is  the 
only  good  hotel  which  Kingston  has  at  present,  very  finely 
located  about  seven  hundred  feet  above  sea  level  on  the  mount- 
ain side. 

English  money  is  the  currency  used  in  Jamaica,  but  they 
are  all  glad  to  take  American  money  and  will  allow  a  prem- 
ium of  two  per  cent  on  it  in  most  of  the  stores.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  provide  yourself  with  English  money  when  going 
to  Jamaica,  as  you  will  get  along  all  right  if  you  have  plenty 
of  American  monev. 


145 


WEST   INDIES 


PANAMA   CAXAL 


We  arrived  at  Colon  March,  loth.  1909,  and  immediately 
took  a  train  for  Panama  and  spent  one  day  visiting  in  the 
canal  zone.  Nearly  everyone  who  reads,  knows  more  or  less 
about  the  Panama  Canal,  and  the  impressions  made  by  a  visit 
of  one  day  to  this  stupendous  work  may  not  be  of  much 
importance  to  the  public,  and  in  fact  we  may  not  tell  any- 
thing which  has  not  already  been  many  times  told.  Still  the 
most  of  us  would  like  to  have  the  opportunity  of  one  day's 
visit  here  and  would  think  we  knew  more  about  this  work 
after  a  day's  visit. 

The  Panama  Railway,  which  is  owned  and  operated 
by  the  United  States  Government,  as  almost  everything  else 
in  the  canal  zone,  is  fifty  miles  long  from  Colon  to  Panama, 
and  follows  near  the  proposed  line  of  the  canal.  It  is  a  well 
built  road  and  well  operated,  was  built  fifty  years  ago  and 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  United  States  with  the  pur- 
chase of  the  canal  rights  from  the  French  government.  It  is 
literally  strewn  from  one  end  to  the  other  with  old  cast-away 
locomotives,  grading  machinery,  light  railway  iron,  and  an 
immense  amount  of  old  scrap  iron  junk,  which  was  in  use  by 
the  French,  but  lay  idle  for  ten  years  after  the  failure  of  the 
French  company  and  was  worthless  when  we  bought  the 
canal  rights. 

The  railway  itself  was  kept  up  and  operated  by  the 
I'Vench  until  we  took  the  property,  as  it  is  the  only  connec- 
tion between  I'anama  and  Colon  for  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers  and    freight.      The    United    States    Ciovernment    has 

147 


WEST   INDIES 


<i3 

o 

< 
Eh 
M 


PANAMA  CANAL 

recently  decided  to  use  crude  oil  for  fuel  on  the  railway  and 
canal  machines,  and  have  laid  a  pipe  line  alongside  of  the 
railway,  so  that  they  can  readily  pipe  oil  to  all  parts  of  the 
work.  We  think  this  is  a  wise  move,  for  the  coal  which  is 
used  here  must  all  come  from  the  United  States,  or  England, 
and  is  much  more  expensive  for  fuel,  in  this  locality,  than  oil. 

As  the  United  States  has  decided  to  build  a  lock  canal, 
a  large  part  of  this  road  will  have  to  be  rebuilt,  as  the  present 
line  will  be  flooded  by  the  lake  which  will  be  formed  by 
darning  the  Chagres  river;  in  fact,  this  change  is  now  being 
made,  and  a  large  part  of  the  new  railway  line  has  already 
been  constructed. 

We  stopped  at  the  Gatun  dam,  which  is  only  seven  miles 
out  from  Colon,  for  a  view  of  the  work  in  course  of  con- 
struction. The  newspaper  talk  which  has  been  spread  broad- 
cast in  the  United  States,  about  this  dam  settling,  is  no  doubt 
pure  fiction,  as  the  dam  will  be  no  more  likely  to  settle  than 
the  surrounding  hills  which  will  also  operate  as  a  dam  for 
many  miles.  The  plan  is  to  dam  the  Chagres  river  so  as 
to  raise  the  water  eighty-five  feet.  This  lift  is  to  be  over- 
come by  three  sets  of  locks,  twenty-eight  and  a  half  feet  lift 
to  each  set  of  locks.  The  dam  will  form  an  artificial  lake 
from  forty-five  to  ninety  feet  deep  covering  an  area  of  one 
hundred  sixty-four  scjuare  miles,  and  will  form  twenty-three 
miles  of  the  canal,  from  Gatun  Locks  to  the  Culebra  Cut. 
This  cut,  which  is  near  the  I'anama  end.  will  be  nearly  nine 
miles  long  and  about  two  hundred  feet  deep  at  the  point 
where  the  hills  are  highest. 

This  immense  excavation  is  well  under  way.  The  material 
to  be  remo\ed  is  a   formation  of  blue  shale  rock,  and  while 

•49 


WEST   INDIES 


PANAMA   CAXAL 

not  very  hard  to  remove,  still  it  is  rock  and  has  to  be  blasted 
and  broken  up  in  chunks  small  enough  to  be  handled  by  the 
steam  shovels. 

After  the  cut  is  passed,  we  come  to  the  site  of  the  two 
Pedro  Migual  Locks  and  the  two  Mira  Flores  Locks,  where 
boats  will  be  dropped  down  to  the  sea  level  at  the  Pacific  end. 
After  passing  over  this  line  and  seeing  the  tremendous  amount 
of  work  that  will  be  required,  we  do  not  think  there  is  any 
doubt  but  that  it  is  the  greatest  undertaking  ever  essayed  by 
man ;  at  least  we  do  not  know  of  any  such  gigantic  work 
heretofore  accomplished.  When  it  will  be  completed  and  at 
what  cost  is  largely  conjecture:  for  instance,  the  eminent 
French  engineers  under  DeLesseps  estimated  a  sea  level  canal 
to  cost  one  hundred  sixty-nine  million  dollars,  and  after  ex- 
pending two  hundred  and  sixty  million  dollars  failed  and  sold 
their  rights  to  the  L'nited  States,  for  forty  million  dollars. 
When  our  engineers  took  up  the  work,  they  had  in  consulta- 
tion for  examination,  estimates  and  advice,  the  most  learned 
and  experienced  engineers  of  the  world,  and  estimated  the 
cost  at  two  hundred  fourteen  million,  seven  hundred  and  fixe 
thousand,  two  hundred  dollars,  and  now  it  is  admitted  by  the 
engineers  in  charge  of  the  work  that  it  will  probably  cost 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  million  dollars;  so  much  for 
the  ability  of  the  wisest  men  in  this  line  of  work,  to  fcMTcast 
the  cost. 

The  L'nited  States  have  done  a  great  amount  of  work 
in  getting  things  ready.  They  have  built  sanitary  houses 
for  the  officers  and  workmen  along  the  whole  line;  really 
have  built  several  young  cities.  The  houses  are  built  of 
wood,  elevated  a  few  feet  from  the  ground,  allowing  free 
ventilation  under  the  buildings,  a  veranda  perhaps  ten  foot 
wide  all  around  the  house  and  all  this  veranda  screened  to 
keep  out  mosc|uitos  and  flying  insects,  as  there  are  vcrv  few 

I  ^i 


WEST   INDIES 


PANAMA   CAXAL 

flies  in  the  Canal  Zone.  The  roof  extends  several  feet  over 
all.  The  buildings  are  painted  dark  blue  with  white  trim- 
mings, and  are  almost  always  located  on  a  side  hill  where  the 
drainage  is  best.  This  excellent  plan  of  construction,  with 
the  rigid  sanitary  laws  in  force  both  in  Panama  and  Colon, 
as  well  as  all  along  the  line,  will  come  as  near  making  the 
canal  zone  a  healthy  place  as  possible. 

The  laborers  now  employed  in  the  canal  work  are  Ja- 
maica Negroes  who  are  paid  fifteen  cents  per  hour,  and  there 
seems  to  be  more  of  them  than  any  other  kind.  Next  in 
number  are  the  Spaniards,  who  are  paid  twenty  cents  an 
hour,  and  it  is  claimed  are  the  best  laborers  on  the  work. 
There  are  some  Americans,  who  are  generally  bosses,  some 
Italians  and  a  few  of  many  other  nationalities. 

The  commercial  interests  of  the  world  and  our  naval 
interests  demanded  that  this  canal  should  be  built,  and  it  is 
perhaps  our  duty  to  do  this  stupendous  work.  Whether  it 
should  have  been  undertaken  in  this  century,  or  deferred  until 
the  next,  should  have  been  a  question  for  careful  considera- 
tion. If  we  can  complete  and  successfully  operate  this  canal 
as  now  contemplated,  at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  million  dollars,  and  have  it  ready  for  actual  use  in  19 15. 
as  now  claimed  by  the  engineers  in  charge,  we  shall  have  done 
a  work  which  perhaps  could  not  be  done  by  any  other  nation 
and  for  which  the  whole  world  will  be  under  obligations  to 
the  United  States. 

The  City  of  Colon,  which  is  on  the  Atlantic  end  of  the 
canal,  has  a  mixed  population  of  aV)out  fifteen  thousand. 
Houses  are  two  stories,  frame,  and  the  best  of  them  have 
been  built  by  our  I'ncle  Sam  as  homes  and  boarding  houses 
for  the  canal   and   railway  employes.      It   gi\es  one  the   im- 

^53 


WEST   INDIES 


•.•ivi^* 


•  -^^^k'  'iv  H^.'    ■"    %^  .,.;.■  ■-^•ir^   • 


1-3  a> 
O 

(V 


PANAMA   CAXAL 

pression  of  a  very  rough  and  tough  city,  and  not  one  which 
would  be  desirable  as  a  place  for  a  residence. 

The  City  of  Panama  is  two  hundred  years  old,  was 
built  by  the  Spanish,  population  forty  thousand,  mixed  people 
from  nearly  every  quarter  of  the  globe;  there  are  probably 
more  Jamaica  Negroes  and  Chinese  than  any  other  class. 
The  buildings  are  of  every  kind  of  construction;  in  the  main 
business  part  are  brick,  plastered  with  cement,  and  usually 
two  stories  high  with  narrow  streets,  while  the  residence 
portion  is  built  mostly  of  wood  and  of  the  cheapest  possible 
construction. 

The  United  States  Government  has  built  a  hotel  here 
of  three  hundred  rooms,  light  and  airy  and  intended  princi- 
pally as  a  place  of  residence  for  the  canal  officers  and  their 
families.  This  hotel  is  called  "Tivoli."  and  is  the  only  first 
class  hotel  in  this  part  of  the  world ;  we  had  luncheon  there, 
and  it  was  excellent.  This  is  the  only  hotel  that  we  know  of 
that  is  owned  and  operated  by  Uncle  Sam. 

The  most  important  building  in  Panama  is  the  Ancon 
Hospital,  built  by  the  French  at  a  cost  of  five  million  dollars. 
The  city  is  situated  on  low  hills,  which  gives  good  opportunity 
for  drainage,  and  with  the  strict  sanitary  laws  now  in  force, 
will  be  much  more  healthy  than  heretofore.  The  population 
are  of  a  low  order,  who  herd  together  in  poor  quarters.  As 
the  city  is  only  nine  degrees  north  of  the  equator,  it  will 
require  great  care  and  vigilence  by  the  sanitary  officers  to 
prevent  epidemics  such  as  are  frequent  in  the  tropics.  The 
Pacific  end  of  the  canal  is  about  four  miles  west  of  Panama 
at  La  Boca. 


.">."> 


WEST   INDIES 


LA   GUAYRA 


After  three  days'  delightful  sailing,  where  the  trade 
winds  temper  the  heat,  we  arrived  at  the  town  of  La  Giiayra, 
Venezuela,  on  the  morning  of  March  13th,  1909.  There  is 
not  much  of  a  harbor  here;  it  is  simply  a  small  bay.  with 
nothing  to  prevent  the  heavy  swells  of  the  ocean  from  coming 
in,  as  they  do  nearly  all  the  year.  This  part  of  the  ocean 
is  swept  by  the  trade  winds,  which  blow  steadily  six  months 
of  the  year  from  the  southeast.  The  water  is  deep,  and  the 
largest  ships  can  anchor  a  half  mile  out. 

The  town  is  built  on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  four  thous- 
and five  hundred  feet  high,  and  approaching  from  the  sea, 
the  buildings  look  like  toy  houses.  They  are  built  of  sun- 
dried  bricks,  with  red  tile  roof,  and  not  a  tree  or  blade  of 
grass  near,  which  makes  the  place  look  very  hot;  indeed,  it 
is  said  to  be  the  hottest  place  on  earth,  but  there  was  a  nice 
breeze  the  morning  w^e  landed  and  we  did  not  suffer  from 
the  heat. 

A  small  fort  is  located  on  the  mountain  a  few  hundred 
feet  above  the  town.  There  is  a  Catholic  church,  and  a  Leper 
Hospital  a  short  distance  out.  A  fine  large  flour  mill,  which 
is  not  running  now,  is  located  in  the  city.  This  mill  was 
put  up  under  the  Castro  regime  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  by  a  Yankee  miller  from  jNIinneapolis.  At  that  time 
there  was  an  import  duty  of  two  dollars  per  barrel  on  flour, 
and  no  duty  on  wheat.  Since  Castro  has  been  deposed,  the 
duty  on  flour  has  been  removed,  hence  the  mill  must  of 
necessity  go  out  of  business ;  it  is  said  to  be  the  property 
of  Castro. 

The  town  is  called  the  chief  seaport  of  \'cne7.uela.  but  is 
not  of  much  inii)()rtancc.  We  went  immediately  from  the 
steamer  to  the  railway  train  which  was  waiting  for  us.  and 

157 


WEST   INDIES 


N 
H 

> 

to 
<J 

o 

o 

o 
m 

;^ 
m 


CARACAS 

left  for  Caracas,  the  capital,  six  miles  inland,  but  twenty-two 
miles  railway  travel  is  required  to  climb  the  mountains.  The 
scenery  on  this  railway  is  magnificent ;  it  is  very  mountainous 
and  picturesque,  many  wonderful  flowering  trees  and  unusual 
plant  life  to  us.  The  railway  is  a  three  foot  gauge  and  the 
shortest  curves  have  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  radius;  quite 
a  large  part  of  the  track  is  three  and  a  half  per  cent  grade. 
The  highest  point  on  the  line  is  over  three  thousand  feet,  but 
the  scenery  is  not  as  beautiful  as  the  mountains  of  Switzer- 
land, as  their  mountains  are  usually  green,  while  here  there  is 
scarcely  a  blade  of  grass  or  a  green  shrub,  except  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ravines.  There  is  not  enough  green  in  these  moun- 
tains to  keep  a  goat,  and  generally  they  are  too  steep  for  a  goat 
to  climb.  The  train  creeps  around  the  sides  of  the  mountains, 
always  climbing,  and  frequently  we  could  see  three  or  four 
tracks  beneath  us.  The  railway  trip  from  La  Gauyra  to  Cara- 
cas is  simply  grand,  and  any  one  who  cares  for  wild  and  rough 
scenery  will  be  more  than  delighted  with  this  trip. 


CARACAS. 

We  arrived  at  Caracas  at  3  :oo  p.  m.,  and  after  a  good 
lunch  at  the  Grand  Hotel  Klint,  took  a  carriage  to  view  the 
sights  of  the  most  interesting  city  of  this  interesting  country. 

Caracas  has  a  population  of  seventy-five  thousand ;  it  is 
Spanish,  and  over  three  hundred  years  old.  The  streets  are 
regularly  laid  out,  twenty  feet  wide,  and  in  the  business  sec- 
tion the  buildings  are  all  brick,  plastered  outside  and  inside 
with  cement.  The  city  lies  in  a  very  pretty  valley,  twelve  miles 
long  and  three  miles  wide,  a  clean  healthy  location ;  elevation 
three  thousand  and  eighteen  feet:  the  pir  is  light  and  refresh- 
ing. At  night  and  in  the  early  morning  a  light  overcoat  is 
comfortable. 

There  are  several   beautiful   city   i)arks.   and   many   fine 

>59 


WEST  INDIES 


VENEZUELA 

homes,  with  large  grounds,  filled  with  the  most  beautiful 
tropical  flowers  and  shrubbery.  This  is  their  dry  season,  but 
the  vegetation  is  irrigated  and  has  plenty  of  water  which 
makes  the  homes  and  parks  beautiful. 

The  Capitol  buildings,  situated  in  the  central  part  of  the 
city,  are  very  imposing,  and  compare  favorably  with  many 
in  the  United  States.  The  hotels  are  small  and  of  Spanish 
type,  many  of  the  rooms  having  no  windows,  only  the  door 
for  light  and  air.  The  room  which  we  occupied  had  only  one 
window,  about  two  feet  square,  and  that  was  very  near  the 
ceiling  and  opened  out  on  an  inside  hallway.  These  people 
do  not  have  our  ideas  of  fresh  air  for  sleeping  rooms. 

There  are  a  great  many  retail  stores  or  shops  in  Caracas, 
but  they  are  usually  very  small ;  the  largest  carry  very  small 
and  inferior  stocks  of  goods. 

The  carriages  here  are  drawn  by  two  tough  little  Spanish 
horses,  which  usually  go  on  the  run.  Most  of  the  streets  are 
paved  with  large  cobble  st(Mies,  and  going  over  them  on  a  gal- 
lop gives  one  a  great  shaking  up. 

We  went  to  a  bull  fight  at  night.  The  audience  seemed 
to  be  much  pleased,  judging  from  the  great  applause;  we  saw 
five  bulls  tortured  and  wounded,  and  two  killed ;  also  one 
woman  bull-fighter  dangerously  injured.  I  am  more  fully 
convinced  now,  than  ever  before,  that  the  bull  fight  is  de- 
grading and  vicious  in  its  tendency,  and  should  be  prohibited 
bv  law. 


VENEZUELA. 


Early  the  next  morning  we  were  off  on  a  railway  j(Uir- 
ney  to  Puerto  Cabello,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  taking 
ten  hours  to  make  the  trip,  over  the  great  WMiezuela  railway, 
built  by  a  Clerman  company,  and  the  Puerto  Cabello  and  Va- 
lencia railway.  On  this  all  clay  trip  through  the  central  part 
of  this  very  interesting  country  we  had  a  great  opportunity 


i6i 


WEST   INDIES 


<5 

H 
N 

> 
6 

H 

m 

o 


VENEZUELA 

to  see  the  people  and  their  ways,  as  well  as  the  great  railway 
line.  There  are  eighty-six  tunnels  on  this  line,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  twelve  iron  bridges  and  viaducts.  Two  and  a  quar- 
ter miles  of  the  road  is  eight  per  cent  grade ;  on  this  part  there 
is  a  cog  wheel  in  the  middle  of  the  track  and  a  cog  wheel  in 
the  engine,  and  the  decline  was  very  easily  made,  dropping 
us  one  thousand  feet.  Then  there  is  four  miles  three  and  a 
half  per  cent  grade,  dropping  us  another  eight  hundred  feet, 
and  that  is  getting  down  to  the  sea  level  rapidly.  The  road 
is  well  built  and  trains  good.  A  great  part  of  the  country  is 
very  mountainous  and  rough  and  the  scenery  is  almost  beyond 
description. 

We  passed  through  three  small  valleys  where  the  vege- 
tation under  irrigation  was  very  fine,  but  the  mountainous 
country  is  barren  and  sterile,  and  no  animals,  except  goats  and 
burros  could  subsist,  and  they  are  generally  in  thin  flesh.  One 
valley  contains  the  Lake  of  Tacarigua,  a  sheet  of  water  about 
fifteen  miles  long  and  a  half  mile  to  three  miles  wide,  a  beau- 
tiful lake  about  two  thousand  feet  above  sea  level.  In  this 
valley,  which  is  fertile,  we  saw  many  good  looking  cattle,  fine 
fields  of  sugar  cane,  bananas,  some  fields  of  cotton,  and  a  lit- 
tle corn. 

On  the  sea  coast  a  few  miles  west  of  Puerto  Cabello  is  a 
forest  of  organ  cacti  trees  of  several  hundred  acres.  These 
cacti  trees  are  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  high,  a  good  strong  tree, 
with  trunks  and  many  branches,  but  not  a  leaf.  It  is  a  dreary 
desert,  and  certainly  looks  uncanny. 

The  native  X^enezuelans  are  a  mixture  of  Spanish,  Negro 
and  Indians,  a  kind.  lazy,  easy  going  people,  not  given  to 
much  labor,  and  as  a  general  thing  are  in  the  greatest  poverty ; 
they  need  but  few  clothes,  and  the  infants  as  a  rule  wear  no 
clothing  at  all  until  they  arc  three  or  four  years  of  age.    These 

i^>3 


WEST  INDIES 


TRINIDAD 

people  are  very  prolific,  children  swarm  everywhere,  and  in 
nearly  every  group  will  be  seen  one  or  more  naked  brown 
babies  astride  the  mother's  hips,  or  in  her  arms. 

The  animals  are  principally  goats  and  burros,  and  these 
hardy  friends  of  man  can  live  where  other  animals  would 
starve,  and  for  that  reason  are  well  adapted  to  the  mountains 
of  Venezuela. 

There  are  many  birds  of  beautiful  plumage  offered  for 
sale  in  cages  at  nearly  all  the  railway  stations,  from  the  par- 
rot to  the  humming  bird. 

We  were  well  treated  while  in  Venezuela,  and  had  better 
fare  than  we  expected ;  in  fact  the  meals  were  generally  better 
than  we  had  while  in  Spain,  several  years  ago. 

The  trip  was  made  without  great  discomfort ;  the  tem- 
perature of  course  is  high,  and  one  making  this  trip  should 
take  the  lightest  summer  clothing,  at  the  same  time  a  light 
overcoat  for  use  in  the  evening  and  in  the  early  morning. 


TRINIDAD. 

Port  of  Spain,  with  a  population  of  sixty  thousand,  is 
the  capital  and  principal  city.  The  island  of  Trinidad,  the 
most  southerly  of  all  the  isles  of  West  Indies,  is  a  British 
possession  and  has  been  held  as  a  crown  colony  by  that  nation 
for  more  than  one  hundred  years.  While  I  do  not  especially 
wish  to  praise  the  English,  it  is  certainly  a  fact  that  these 
colonies  have  been  much  benefited  by  Tjiglish  occupation. 
When  compared  with  the  Spanish  colonies,  which  origin.'dly 
occupied  nearly  all  of  the  West  Indies,  the  English  colonies 
are  far  superior,  and  the  island  of  Trinidad  is  one  example. 

We  visited  the  Port  of  Spain,  which  is  the  principal  town 
on  Trinidad,  and  found  it  the  best  town  in  West  Intlies.  ex- 
cept San  Juan  and   Havana.     The  streets  arc  well  laid  out. 

16  = 


WEST  INDIES 


HAND-CAR  LOADED  WITH  ASPHALT— ON  TROLLEY  RUNNING  TO 
STEAMER,  TRINIDAD. 


TRIXIDAD 

about  forty  feet  wide.  The  business  houses,  usually  two  stor- 
ies, are  built  of  brick,  plastered  inside  and  out  with  cement, 
and  streets  paved  with  asphalt.  The  city  is  clean,  and  usually 
healthy. 

We  took  a  long  carriage  drive  and  had  an  excellent  op- 
portunity to  see  the  whole  town.  There  is  a  large  grass 
plat,  called  the  Savannah,  or  Queen's  Park,  several  hundred 
acres  in  extent,  adjoining  the  city.  It  is  a  treat  to  the  eye 
to  see  such  a  beautiful  park,  dotted  with  fine  palm  trees.  This 
park  is  used  by  the  public  as  a  cricket  ground,  baseball,  polo 
ground,  and  for  all  sorts  of  public  amusements.  Separated 
from  it  by  a  fine  asphalt  drive  is  the  Botanical  Garden,  a  de- 
light to  the  visitor.  All  kinds  of  tropical  and  spice  trees  are 
growing  here,  the  cinnamon,  pepper  and  clove:  we  had  not 
seen  a  clove  tree  before;  the  cloves  were  just  full  grown,  and 
maturing,  and  it  is  a  beautiful  tree.  The  nutmeg  tree  is  also 
found  here  and  looks  very  much  like  a  small  hickory  tree. 

We  saw  many  palm  leaf  trees  all  about  the  city.  This 
is  a  beautiful  palm  tree,  but  quite  different  from  any  other 
kind  of  palm  which  we  have  seen,  usually  grows  from  ten  to 
twenty  feet  high,  with  many  spreading  branches  and  wide 
leaves  which  look  like  palm  leaf  fans. 

Our  drive  took  us  past  many  elegant  suburban  residences 
with  very  handsome  wide  grounds  with  tropical  trees  and 
flowers.  The  houses  are  very  tastefully  built,  and  the  gen- 
eral effect  is  very  pleasing. 

Our  drive  took  us  out  to  a  suburb  called  Coolie  T(nvn, 
which  is  occupied  entirely  by  people  from  the  East  Indies. 
Their  houses  are  of  the  cheap  kind,  and  small,  but  cjuite  com- 
fortable. This  suburb  lies  along  the  sea  coast  for  a  mile  or 
more.  The  whole  of  Coolie  Town  gives  one  a  vivid  impres- 
sion of  Kast  India.  On  our  return  drive  we  passed  the  Leper 
Hospital;  it  is  large  and  airy,  occupied  by  lepers.  ahiK^st  all 
of  whom  are  from  among  the  Fast  Indian  people. 

The  stores  in  Trinidad  are  stocked  with  a  better  class  of 
merchandise  than  we  have  seen   in  most  other  West   Indian 

167 


WEST  INDIES 


TRIXIDAD 

cities,  but  to  one  accustomed  to  the  large  and  varied  stocks 
of  merchandise  carried  in  the  United  States,  even  the  best  of 
stores  in  West  Indies  are  very  inferior. 

When  you  go  to  West  Indies  don't  anticipate  buying  any- 
thing, for  you  will  not  find  the  best  quality,  and  the  prices 
are  as  high  as  in  the  United  States. 

The  island  of  Trinidad  is  not  so  mountainous  as  Vene- 
zuela; there  are  many  tracts  where  fine  sugar  cane  fields  and 
other  crops  are  cultivated.  In  order  to  get  labor  to  cultivate 
sugar  crops  the  people  from  East  India  have  been  brought 
here  on  a  five  years'  contract.  The  government  guarantees 
the  East  Indians  one  shilling  per  day  for  five  years,  house 
room  and  medical  attendance  free,  and  pays  one-third  of  the 
steamer  fares,  and  the  planter  two-thirds;  this  makes  it  cost 
the  sugar  planter  about  forty  cents  per  day  for  this  Coolie 
labor.  After  the  five  years'  contract  they  have  their  fare  paid 
back  to  India,  if  they  wish  to  return,  and  about  one  in  five 
returns.  There  is  usually  about  five  boat  loads  or  five  thou- 
sand of  these  people  brought  here  each  year,  and  about  one 
thousand  return  each  year;  the  result,  after  some  years  of  this 
plan  is,  that  there  are  now  about  one  hundred  thousand  of 
these  East  India  people  who  have  become  residents  of  the 
island.  They  still  cling  to  their  own  style  of  dress,  and  one 
will  see  a  good  many  of  these  people  on  the  streets  of  the  city, 
with  legs  thin  and  bare  to  the  body,  their  only  dress  being 
white  cotton  cloth  wrapped  about  their  body  in  their  own 
peculiar  fashion.  We  saw  many  of  their  women  with  large 
silver  or  gold  rings  in  their  noses,  the  rings  hang  down  over 
the  mouth,  and  must  be  much  in  the  way  when  eating  or 
drinking. 

The  harbor  of  I'ort  of  Spain  is  only  a  wide  bay,  the  water 
shallow,  about  fifteen  feet  deep,  for  a  long  distance  out.  Our 
ship  was  compelled  to  anchor  two  miles  out  and  send  the  pas- 
sengers to  the  wharf  in  small  boats:  this  is  very  inconvenient 
when  the  sea  is  rough. 

The  language  of  the  island  is  iMiglish.  the  greatest  nuni- 

16(7 


WEST   INDIES 


TRINIDAD 

ber  of  the  people  are  Negroes,  called  here  Creoles,  a  small 
number  of  English,  with  a  few  Germans,  French  and  Amer- 
icans constituting  the  population. 

Our  steamer  stopped  two  hours  at  the  La  Brea  point, 
Trinidad  island,  for  us  to  see  the  great  Pitch  Lake,  from 
whence  all  the  asphaltum  comes,  which  is  used  to  pave  the 
streets  of  nearly,  or  quite  every  American  city.  This  Pitch 
Lake  is  about  one  mile  from  shore,  fifty  feet  above  sea  level, 
and  has  an  area  of  one  hundred  and  ten  acres  of  asphalt ;  it 
is  apparently  inexhaustible.  As  fast  as  it  is  dug  out  and  re- 
moved it  fills  in  again,  and  the  shipping  out  of  two  hundred 
thousand  tons  per  year  does  not  diminish  the  amount. 

An  American  corporation  has  leased  this  asphalt  lake, 
paying  the  Trinidad  government  ninety  cents  per  ton  royalty, 
and  are  making  a  fortune  out  of  their  lease.  They  have  es- 
tablished an  endless  wire  rope  line  from  the  lake  to  their 
loading  dock,  so  that  they  simply  dig  out  the  asphalt  in  large 
chunks  and  load  it  into  small  iron  cars,  which  run  on  the 
rope  to  the  vessel,  and  are  dumped,  and  the  empty  car  is  pulled 
back  by  the  loaded  car  going  down,  the  most  economical  way 
of  handling  this  heavy  material.  It  is  of  a  coal  tar  nature, 
possibly  coal  in  its  formation  period,  although  very  different. 
The  Trinidad  government  gets  about  fifty  thousand  dollars 
per  year  royalty  from  this  Pitch  Lake. 

On  coming  out  of  the  I'ort  of  Spain  harbor  about  six 
p.  m.  we  .sailed  along  the  coast  for  two  hours,  viewing  the 
scenery,  which  is  beautiful,  pronounced  by  .some  to  1)e  equal 
to  that  of  the  Thou.sand  Islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  A  great 
many  people  in  the  city  have  homes  all  along  this  coast. 


171 


WEST   INDIES 


BARBADOS. 


We  called  at  the  island  of  Barbados,  which  is  a  colony 
of  England,  sometimes  called  "Little  England."  The  natives 
are  negroes,  descendant  from  African  stock,  brought  here  as 
slaves  centuries  ago.  There  are  a  few  half-bloods  and  quar- 
ter bloods,  but  they  are  mostly  of  pure  African  descent.  The 
climate  is  so  salubrious  that  they  have  multiplied  greatly,  and 
at  present  there  is  a  population  of  over  200,000  on  this  small 
island  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  square  miles  of  territory, 
about  the  most  densely  populated  country  on  earth.  It  is 
warm  and  dry  here  during  the  winter  months,  and  many  with 
lung  troubles  come  here  during  the  season  from  the  United 
States  and  England.  There  were  one  hundred  and  twenty 
boarders  at  the  Marine  Hotel  when  we  were  there,  and  some 
of  them  had  been  coming  for  several  seasons.  The  harbor 
of  Bridgetown,  the  capital  of  Barbados,  where  we  landed  is 
very  poor,  and  cannot  really  be  classed  as  a  harbor,  as  it  is 
only  a  shallow  bay  with  a  wide  open  side  to  the  sea.  For- 
tunately, this  so-called  harbor  lies  on  the  west  side  of  the 
island,  and  the  trade  winds  which  prevail  here  regularly  for 
six  months  of  the  year,  always  blowing  from  the  southeast, 
blow  over  the  island,  which  is  low.  and  the  water  in  the  har- 
bor is  usually  calm.  We  anchored  about  a  mile  out  and  landed 
in  small  tenders.  There  was  much  shipping  tied  up  to  the 
wharf,  mostly  sail  boats  which  trade  with  the  adjacent  islands. 
The  central  i)art  of  the  city  is  compactly  built  of  stone  or 
brick,  and  the  outskirts  are  the  poorest  kind  of  one-room 
shacks.  We  took  a  carriage  and  drove  to  the  Governor's  pal- 
ace, which  is  situated  on  a  slight  elevation.  The  palace  is 
also  the  Governor's  office,  and  a  fort,  as  there  are  several 
cannons  located  in  the  front  and  rear.  The  soldiers  are  Ne- 
groes, recruited  from  the  native  population.  From  there  we 
drove  several  miles  across  the  island  and  passed  many  sugar 

^73 


WEST   INDIES 


SUGAR  CANE   MILL— RLW   BY   WIND  POWER.     BARBADOS. 


BARBADOS 

plantations  and  cotton  fields.  The  sugar  cane  is  ground  with 
the  old  fashioned  Holland  windmills,  with  huge  arms  forty 
feet  long  used  for  power.  There  are  a  great  many  of  these 
quaint  old  windmills  all  over  the  island.  The  cotton  fields 
are  now  in  blossom  and  generally  look  like  there  would  be  a 
good  crop.  We  asked  our  coachman  when  they  gathered  the 
cotton;  he  replied.  *Svhen  it  is  ripe."  The  principal  crops  are 
cane  sugar,  cotton  and  Xegro  babies.  The  last  seems  to  be 
the  most  prolific. 

These  children  go  to  school,  as  we  saw  many  of  their 
school  rooms  filled  to  overflowing.  All  study  aloud  in  the 
Chinese  fashion.  They  are  the  most  polite  colored  people  we 
have  ever  met.  almost  always  bowing  respectfully  and  say- 
ing, ''good  morning  marster."  They  all  speak  English,  and 
appear  healthy,  well  fed  and  contented.  In  our  drive  across 
the  island  we  passed  many  large  and  well  built  \^illas  which 
were  vacant.  The  grass  and  weeds  growing  in  what  once 
were  well-kept  driveways.  There  is  a  general  appearance  of 
decline  in  the  agriculture  conditions.  In  a  suburb  of  the  city 
called  "Belleville"  are  many  quite  pretty  summer  residences, 
with  gardens  well  kept,  and  ornamented  with  that  most  beau- 
tiful of  all  tropical  trees,  the  royal  palm. 


ST.  PIKRRK.  MARTIXIOrK. 

We  sailed  close  along  the  shore  of  Martinuc(|ue  to  view 
the  ruins  of  the  City  of  Saint  Pierre,  destroyed  by  the  great 
volcano,  Mt.  Peele. 

One  bright  May  morning,  .seven  years  ago.  this  prosper- 
ous city  of  thirty  thou.sand  souls,  was  destroyed  by  the  gas 
and  fumes  of  Mt.  Pecle.  in  a  moment,  putting  to  death  in- 
stantly every  individual  in  the  city,  except  one.  who  was  in 
a  dungeon,  in  that  part  of  the  jail  most  distant  from  the 
volcano,     'i'lie  w.'dls  of  the  houses  are  still  standing,  but  the 


WEST  INDIES 


jm 

■ 

■vil 

DOMINICA 

place  today  looks  more  like  Pompeii,  than  any  other  place  I 
know  of;  in  fact,  it  looks  more  dreary,  if  anything,  than 
Pompeii.  It  is  not  likely  ever  to  be  re-built.  There  are  a 
few  fishermen  living  there  now.  We  saw  one  house  which 
appeared  to  be  habitable,  as  it  had  a  new  roof.  There  stands 
Mt.  Peele,  looking  down  on  this  desolated  city,  and  still 
steaming  and  smoking ;  it  may  have  gas  enough  left  to  destroy 
another  city.  The  steam  and  vapor  made  a  cloud  which  hid 
the  top  of  the  mountain  from  us.  There  is  a  deep  cut,  or  canal 
nmning  all  the  way  down  from  the  peak  to  the  sea,  as  wide 
as  a  street,  and  some  places  perhaps  fifty  feet  wide,  a  channel 
made  by  lava  flowing  into  the  sea.  The  whole  place  gives  one 
a  shock  on  looking  at  it,  as  it  brings  the  horrible  tragedy  so 
forcibly  to  the  mind. 

The  island  of  Martinique  looks  very  prosperous  and  fer- 
tile in  other  parts,  except  that  devastated  by  this  great  vol- 
cano. 


DOMINICA. 

Our  ship  made  a  short  call  at  Roseau,  the  capital  city 
of  Dominica.  The  island  has  no  harbor,  but  a  small  pier  on 
the  sea  beach ;  the  ocean  is  deep  at  this  place  and  ships  come 
close  in  to  the  shore.  The  town  claims  six  thousand  popula- 
tion, all  black  or  mulatto,  speaking  French  Patio  and  Pigeon 
English.  The  island  has  been  under  the  care  of  the  English 
since  1756.  and  while  it  is  a  pretty  little  island,  it  is  not  of 
much  importance.  We  went  ashore  for  a  few  hours.  There 
are  a  few  good  looking  residences,  a  very  gt)od  park  and  a 
botanical  garden.  As  there  was  but  one  carriage  in  Roseau, 
and  that  was  engaged  before  we  could  reach  it,  we  walked 
a  mile  or  two  out  to  the  small  hills.  The  island  of  Dominica 
is  noted  as  being  the  home  of  the  "Last  of  the  Caribs."  They 
are  the  original  Indians,  which  inhabited  all  of  West  Indies 

^77 


WEST   INDIES 


WEST   INDIES 


statup:  of  ('ou'Mnrs.  santo  dominco.  wkst  indiks. 


WEST  INDIES 


SANTO  DOMINGO 

before  they  were  discovered  by  Columbus.  There  are  only 
a  few  families  of  them  left;  they  live  near  the  south  end  of 
Dominica  by  themselves,  and  have  but  little  communication 
with  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  island.  They  are  fast  dying 
off,  and  in  a  few  years  there  will  be  none  left  to  tell  their  sor- 
rowful tale. 


SANTO  DOMINGO. 

On  March  20th,  1909,  we  called  at  this,  the  oldest  city 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  founded  by  Columbus  in  1496. 
We  saw  the  casket  containing  the  body  of  Christopher  Colum- 
bus. We  also  saw  Christopher  Columbus'  body  in  the  cathedral 
at  Seville,  Spain,  about  four  years  ago ;  which  place  has  the 
real  body  we  could  not  guess.  This  is  a  walled  city,  built  four 
hundred  years  ago.  The  wall  is  about  twenty  feet  high,  built 
for  protection  against  the  Indians ;  the  material  is  brick  and 
mortar;  most  of  it  is  standing  today.  The  residence  and  fort 
built  by  Don  Diego  Columbus,  son  of  Christopher,  is  on  the 
city  wall  near  where  we  landed,  and  is  in  good  repair,  con- 
sidering the  age.  The  city  is  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Ozama  river,  which  affords  a  quiet  little  harbor,  for  such 
ships  as  Columbus  used,  but  is  so  shallow  that  ordinary  steam- 
ers of  the  present  day  cannot  get  in,  and  we  anchored  out 
about  two  miles,  going  in  with  small  tenders.  Santo  Domingo 
has  about  ten  thousand  population ;  they  are  generally  full 
l)looded  Negroes,  but  we  saw  few  white,  or  l)ut  slightly  mixed 
with  African  blood.  This  is  a  Negro  republic,  and  has  many 
so-called  revolutions.  The  government  is  not  of  great  sta- 
bility, though  said  to  be  very  more  stable  and  better  in  every 
way  than  the  sister  republic.  Haiti.  There  is  very  little  pro- 
gress shown  here;  in  fact,  the  city  is  on  the  down  grade. 

181 


WEST   INDIES 


< 

o 

d 
o 

Is 

->! 

rim 

"^  c 
•7  =* 

•^   03 

oo 
o 


SANTIAGO   de   CUBA 


Early  in  the  morning  of  March  22n(l.  1909,  we  sailed  into 
the  beautiful  harbor  of  Santiago.  We  had  read  much  about 
this  harbor,  still  we  were  surprised  at  the  hidden  appearance ; 
also  the  general  beauty  of  the  surroundings.  Certainly  if  there 
had  been  no  "Old  Moro,"  fort  on  the  hill  we  might  have  read- 
ily passed  the  inlet  without  suspecting  that  inside  lay  one  of 
the  best  harbors,  six  miles  long  and  three  miles  wide.  The 
entrance  is  only  six  hundred  feet  wide ;  on  the  right  stands 
"Old  Moro"  Castle  and  fort  arising  two  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea.  Looking  straight  into  the  harbor,  after  you  have 
fairly  entered,  you  see  a  hill  in  front  of  you.  and  apparently 
there  is  no  way  in.  but  sl(nv  down  the  engine  and  go  cau- 
tiously, you  will  find  a  channel  turning  to  the  left,  still  you 
will  have  to  go  very  carefully,  as  the  channel  again  turns 
sharply  to  the  right,  with  hills  ahead  one  hundred  feet  high, 
or  more.  One  passenger  remarked  "a  boat  should  have  hinges 
to  go  through  this  place."  but  one  more  turn  and  you  are  in 
the  harbor  of  "Santiago,  a  beautiful  body  of  water,  deep 
enough  for  any  ship,  and  as  calm  as  an  inland  lake,  which 
it  really  is.  The  storms  of  the  sea  have  no  effect  upon  it. 
as  it  is  surrounded  by  hills,  covered  with  perpetual  green.  It 
is  beautiful,  and  will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  This  is  where 
the  Spanish  Admiral,  Cervera.  with  his  fleet,  remained  for 
more  than  forty  days,  securely  hidden  from  our  na\\'.  under 
Adnn'ral  Sampson.  I  have  always  had  sympathy  tor  .Xdmiral 
Cervera.  There  he  was.  with  his  fi\e  battleships,  the  flower 
of  the  Spanish  navy,  bottled  up.  with  the  cork  left  out. 
Our  army  was  a])proaching  from  the  land  side,  and  our  .\a\al 
Stjuadron  lay  three  miles  out  of  the  harbor,  like  a  cat.  watch- 
ing for  a  mouse.  If  he  remained  in  harbor  he  would  soon 
have  General  Shafter's  cannon  popping  at  him.  and  if  he  es- 


WEST   INDIES 


SANTIAGO   cle   CUBA 

sayed  to  go  out,  he  would  have  to  meet  our  fleet,  with  a  force 
double  his  own.  Certainly,  he  was  between  the  "devil  and 
the  deep  sea."  After  consideration,  he  chose  the  latter  horn 
of  the  dilemma,  and  the  rapid  fire  gims  of  our  ships  soon  laid 
everyone  of  his  vessels  on  the  beach,  where  their  bones  still 
lie,  bleaching  in  the  tropical  sun.  The  gallant  Hobson's  part 
of  this  actual  warfare  should  not  be  forgotten,  for  when  he, 
with  eight  other  men,  who  are  entitled  to  just  as  much  glory 
as  he,  sunk  the  Merrimac  in  this  channel,  they  certainly  per- 
formed the  bravest  act  of  the  Spanish  War.  Santiago  lies  at 
the  head  of  this  harbor,  and  is  a  pretty  place  of  fifty  thousand 
Cubans.  We  landed  at  a  very  pretty  little  "Lake  house"'  style 
of  a  pier,  in  what  it  is  called  the  "Marine  Park,"  where  we  took 
a  carriage  for  a  drive,  in  order  to  make  the  most  of  our  short 
stay.  The  city  has  a  first-class  electric  street  car  system, 
many  wholesale  shipping  warehouses,  very  good  retail  stores 
and  an  old  cathedral,  said  to  be  larger  than  that  in  Havana, 
and  several  plazas,  which  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  place  very 
much.  Our  drive  took  us  out  in  the  country  three  miles  to 
the  far  famed  battlefield  of  San  Juan  Hill.  This  hill  is  a  high 
elevation,  and  one  obtains  here  a  fine  view  of  the  battlefield 
of  El  Caney,  three  miles  to  the  northward  in  the  valley.  About 
all  the  real  fighting  which  occurred  on  land  during  the  Span- 
ish war  was  done  here.  We  saw  here  the  block  house  which 
has  been  rebuilt  of  brick,  also  the  marble  monument,  to  mark 
the  battlefield.  The  famous  "Peace  Tree."  where  general 
Shafter  received  the  surrender  of  the  Spanish  army  under 
General  Toral,  on  July  17th,  i8()8,  .stands  here.  There  is  also 
a  fine  marble  gateway,  recently  built  near  this  spot  by  a  mis- 
guided lady  philanthropist,  "in  honor  of  the  brotherhood  of 
man."  We  .say  mis-guided  because  we  do  not  think  there  is 
anything  in  this  vicinity  to  suggest  "the  brotherhood  of  man." 
but  quite  the  contrary. 


i«5 


WEST   INDIES 


HAVANA 


We  arrived  here  March  24th,  1909.  and  went  at  once  on 
an  excursion,  first  to  the  fortifications  and  "]\Ioro"  Castle. 
The  view  of  the  bay  and  city  from  "El  Aloro"  is  very  beau- 
tiful indeed.  I'he  elevation  is  about  one  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  Cuban  army  use  these  fortifications  as  barracks 
and  parade  grounds.  We  saw  about  one  thousand  Cuban  sol- 
diers here,  and  about  one-third  of  them  were  green  recruits, 
being  drilled  without  guns.  Nearly  all  of  these  soldiers  are 
Negroes.  Not  more  than  one  in  five  are  white.  They  now 
dress  in  khaki  uniforms,  and  make  a  passible  showing  while 
drilling.  The  Cuban  band  were  playing  and  gave  us  several 
very  good  pieces  of  music.  They  number  a1)out  one  hundred 
musicians ;  a  few  Negroes,  but  more  were  Spanish  or  wdiite. 
There  is  no  race  distinction  in  the  Cuban  army,  so  far  as  we 
could  observe.  This  army  is  certainly  a  useless  luxury,  so  far 
as  interference  of  other  nations  are  concerned,  and  could  be 
entirely  dispensed  with,  as  no  other  nation  is  likely  to  trouble 
Cuba  while  our  government  protects  her.  The  real  purpose 
of  her  army  is  no  doubt  to  put  down  rebellions  and  revolu- 
tions among  themselves,  and  for  that  purpose  they  may  be 
needed.  The  Havana  harbor  is  admirably  situated.  "1*^1 
Moro"  castle  and  light  house  stands  at  the  entrance,  which  is 
about  one  thousand  feet  wide,  while  the  harbor  is  about  three 
miles  long  and  one  mile  wide.  As  we  sailed  in  at  7  a.  m.  the 
city  made  a  very  pleasing  impresr»ion.  The  water  is  deep 
enf)Ugh  for  the  largest  vessels,  and  is  visited  by  ships  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  The  black  and  rusty  hull  of  our  battleship 
"Maine."  which  was  destroyed  ten  years  ago.  still  lies  in  the 
•central  part  of  the  harbor,  and  a  very  unj)leasant  reminder  of 
the  loss  of  two  thousand  and  sixty-seven  of  our  brave  sailor 
l)oys.  The  city  of  Havana  has  a  population  of  four  hundred 
ihousand.  and  is  a  thriving,  prosperous  place.     Several  large 

187 


WEST   INDIES 


HAVANA 

business  houses,  three  or  four  stories,  and  some  of  steel  frame 
concrete  construction,  are  now  being  built.  In  the  suburbs 
many  fine  residences  are  also  being  built.  The  streets  are 
well  paved,  and  the  city  as  clean  as  an  American  city.  Elec- 
tric street  car  lines  run  to  all  parts  of  Havana,  and  give  ex- 
cellent service,  fare  five  cents,  American  money,  or  seven 
cents,  Spanish  money.  The  Pradeo  is  a  beautiful  street,  run- 
ning through  the  central  part,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
wide,  with  a  driveway  of  fifty  feet  on  each  side,  and  the  mid- 
dle eighty  feet  devoted  to  park  purposes,  with  three  strips  of 
grass,  three  rows  of  shade  trees  and  two  wide  walks,  paved 
with  flag  stone. 

The  houses  on  either  side  of  this  Pradeo  are  from  two  to 
four  stories  high  and  painted  in  bright  colors,  giving  them  a 
fresh  new  appearance,  and  taken  as  a  whole,  this  great  street 
is  certainly  a  credit  to  Havana,  and  would  be  a  credit  to  any 
American  city.  Generally,  however,  the  streets  are  only  about 
twenty  feet  wide  and  sidewalks  three  feet  wide,  just  like  the 
old  Spanish  cities.  Many  shopping  streets  are  so  narrow  that 
carriages  are  only  permitted  to  go  through  them  in  one  di- 
rection. Yet  through  these  narrow  streets  electric  cars  are 
permitted  to  lay  their  tracks.  In  many  places  the  tracks  are 
so  near  the  walls  of  buildings  that  they  force  the  pedestrians 
to  give  up  the  sidewalks  and  go  across  the  street.  The  retail 
stores  carry  well  selected  stocks,  and  will  compare  favorably 
with  our  large  cities,  except  that  the  stores  are  generally 
quite  small.  The  hotels  are  said  to  have  greatly  improved 
since  the  American  occupation.  We  stopped  at  the  Sevilla, 
which  lias  only  recently  been  built,  and  is  a  beautiful  clean 
looking  hotel:  the  meals  were  cooked  American  style,  but  not 
good,  and  the  prices  very  high.  In  fact,  living  at  the  Havana 
hotels  is  more  expensive  for  what  one  gets  than  in  Xew  York 
City.  We  visited  the  cathedral  where  the  bones  of  Christoi)her 
Columbus  were  said  to  have  rested  about  two  hundred  years, 

189 


WEST   INDIES 


WEST   INDIES 


WEST   IX^TT^s 


HAVANA 

but  were  transferre-  after  the  Spanish  war.     This 

reminds  us  of  the  e  our  country  made  for  the 

sake  of  Cuba.     We  fight  with  Spain,  and  spent 

the  hves  of  our  sol(  ions  of  our  money  in  pure 

philanthropy,  to  frc'  he  unjust  burdens  of  Spain. 

Then  putting  them  (jr  l  we  told  them  to  form  a  Re- 

public, and  govern  themselves.  When  they  failed  in  their 
first  attempt,  we  again  took  charge  of  their  affairs,  until  they 
could  make  a  second  attempt.  History  does  not  record  any 
parallel  of  such  unselfish  national  philanthropy,  and  yet.  with 
all  that  we  have  done  for  Cuba,  we  do  not  believe  they  have 
any  love  or  gratitude  for  our  country.  The  natives,  each  and 
every  one  of  them,  desire  to  be  the  treasurer  of  Cuba,  and  as 
there  are  too  many  of  them  to  fill  the  offices,  there  is  likely 
to  be  revolutions  frequently.  Should  we  have  to  send  our 
army  here  again  to  require  the  Cubans  to  keep  peace  among 
themselves,  I  think  it  would  be  wise  for  us  to  annex  Cuba, 
and  give  them  a  stable  government.  The  prices  of  real  estate 
in  Havana  have  advanced  very  much  during  the  last  few  years, 
even  with  the  unstable  conditions  which  have  existed,  and  a 
Cuban  business  man  said  to  me  "the  prices  on  real  estate  in 
Havana  are  high,  and  should  we  have  another  revolution, 
then  Uncle  Sam  will  take  hold  again,  and  that  would  make  it 
all  the  better  for  us."  While  our  forces  were  in  charge  here, 
the  bull  fighting,  which  has  been  the  chief  amusement  of  the 
Cubans,  was  discontinued,  and  has  not  yet  been  revived.  Tn 
place  of  bull  fighting  the  Cubans  now  have  an  athletic  ball 
game  called  "Jai  Alai."  a  little  like  tennis,  but  played  with 
small  baskets;  the  game  is  played  with  great  vigor,  and  betting 
on  the  game  is  the  important  part  of  the  amusement. 

The  .sugar  crop  this  year  is  one  of  the  largest  ever  raised 
here,  and  the  prices  good.  The  island  is  certainly  the  best 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  for  sugar  and  tobacco  gnnving,  is 
probably  not  equalled  by  any  other  place.  Havana  is  so  ac- 
cessible to  the  residents  of  the  L'nited  States  on  the  .Atlantic 
coast,  that  it  will  become  poj^ular  as  a  winter  resort. 

193 


WEST   INDIES 


p 
<; 

m 

m 
< 

H 

m 

H 
02 

H 
H 

O 
K 


NASSAU. 


We  arrived  at  Nassau,  March  27th,  1909.  and  after  pass- 
ing the  customs  officer,  which  cost  us  nothing,  as  we  had  no 
whiskey,  and  only  a  few  cigars,  which  we  brought  from  Ha- 
vana, which  we  left  in  the  custody  of  the  custom  house  of- 
ficers until  we  should  depart.  We  were  soon  installed  at  the 
beautiful  Colonial,  which  is  one  of  the  Flaglers.  and  a  high 
grade  hotel ;  the  rates  are  high,  but  the  service  and  rooms  are 
first-class.  The  tropical  gardens  and  surroundings  of  this 
hotel  are  among  the  finest  and  a  delight  to  the  eye.  Nassau 
harbor  is  good  for  small  crafts,  but  steamers  drawing  more 
than  ten  feet  of  water  are  compelled  to  anchor  out  in  the  wide 
ocean.  This  harbor  is  about  six  miles  long,  and  a  half  mile 
wide,  sheltered  by  "Hog  Island."  While  the  city  of  Nassau 
has  about  two  thousand  population,  still  the  Colonial 
Hotel  is  the  all  important  part  of  the  town ;  it  has  room 
for  five  hundred  guests,  and  is  open  from  January  ist,  to 
April  1st.  each  year.  The  city  has  a  quaint  old-fashioned 
look;  most  of  the  residences  look  like  they  were  built  before 
Columbus  discovered  America,  and  have  not  been  painted  or 
repaired  since.  The  northern  tourist  is  the  best  crop  in  Nas- 
sau: the  climate  is  so  delightful  that  the  ColcMiial  is  filled  to 
overflowing  during  the  season,  and  some  .Americans  have  built 
homes  here.  \\'hile  there  are  many  pleasant  places  in  the 
West  Indies  to  spend  the  winter,  we  think  the  cUinatc  of  Nas- 
sau is  about  the  best,  at  least,  it  is  nearly  perfection.  The 
.sailing  is  fine:  sail  boats  are  plenty,  and  rates  reasonable.  One 
of  the  amusements  is  the  "Sea  Garden."  about  three  miles 
from  Nassau  on  the  inside  of  "Hog  Island."  The  glass  bot- 
tom boats  give  one  an  opportunity  to  view  the  |)eculiar  fish 
and  .sea  j)lants.  and  the  water  is  so  clear,  that  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  can  be  plainly  seen.  I'ish  of  many  kinds  and  colors. 
and  .sea  weeds,  growing  on  the  bottom,  swaying  in  the  water. 

195 


WEST  INDIES 


NASSAU 

make  quite  an  interesting  picture.  The  surf  bathing  is 
excellent  on  the  outside  of  "Hog  Island"  and  a  large  swim- 
ming pool  is  a  part  of  the  hotel.  There  are  amusements 
enough  here  to  keep  many  guests  through  the  season.  Alost 
of  the  churches  are  represented  in  Nassau.  We  attended  the 
Church  of  England :  the  congregation  was  composed  of  black 
and  white  people ;  Among  others,  the  Governor  of  the  island, 
was  present.  The  edifice  is  called  "The  Cathedral" ;  the  music 
was  excellent,  but  we  cannot  say  as  much  for  the  sermon. 
Six  of  the  choir  boys  were  white,  and  six  were  black.  The 
ushers  were  three  white  and  three  black.  \^ery  evenly  di- 
vided as  to  the  officers.  There  is  certainly  no  race  preju- 
dice in  this  church.  Sponge  fishing  is  the  principal  industry 
of  the  people,  and  there  is  quite  a  fleet  of  small  sail  boats  in 
the  harbor  which  are  engaged  in  the  sponge  fishing  trade. 
They  do  not  dive  for  the  sponges,  but  have  hooks  on  long 
poles  and  pull  the  sponges  off  the  sea  bottom  and  lift  them 
out  of  the  water  with  these  hooks.  There  is  a  long  shed  on 
the  dock  called  the  "sponge  market,"  and  there  are  many  deal- 
ers called  "sponge  merchants,"  who  make  this  their  business. 
More  than  four-fifths  of  the  population  are  Negroes,  and  they 
are  the  blackest  we  have  ever  seen,  the  shining  jet  black, 
with  but  very  few  mulattos.  1'hese  Negroes  are  the  most  in- 
telligent and  best  looking  that  we  have  seen  in  the  West 
Indies.  They  speak  the  English  like  the  Englishman,  with 
the  broad  A.  The  small  local  army  are  all  Negroes,  and  they 
are  as  black  as  the  ".\ce  of  Spades."  We  saw  them  in  their 
dress  uniforms  this  morning  marching  into  church,  and  they 
were  a  fine  looking  company  of  soldiers. 

On  leaving  Nassau  we  boarded  a  small  steamer  for  one 
night's  sail  across  the  gulf  stream,  which  is  the  most  wonder- 
ful stream  in  the  world,  flowing  through  the  ocean  with  a 
strong  current  for  thousands  of  miles,  and  making  the  coast 
of  England  and  Ireland  mild  and  warm,  although  they  are 
so  near  the  cold  parts  of  the  earth.  The  Ciulf  Stream  be- 
tween Nassau  and  I'lorida  -is  usually  (iin'te  rough,  and  we  were 

i(>7 


WEST  INDIES 


ONE  ROYAL  PALM,  NASSAU  ISLAND. 


NASSAU 

glad  when  we  were  landed  at  Miami,  Florida.  In  fact,  we  are 
always  more  glad  to  get  back  to  our  Native  land  than  we  are 
to  leave  it.  The  more  we  see  of  foreign  lands,  the  better  sat- 
isfied we  are  with  our  own 

UNITED  STATES  OF  A^IERICA. 

Did  you  ever  for  a  moment  consider 

How  greatly  you  were  blest 
When  the  stork  dropped  you  here 

Instead  of  in  a  Hindu's  Nest? 

Then  think  of  your  many  blessings 

Count  them,  one  by  one. 
And  never  forget  that  you're  living 

In  the  best  land  under  the  sun. 

W.  W.  W. 


199 


PRESS   OF    COMBE  PRINTING    CO., 
ST.  JOSEPH,  MO.,  U.S.A. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

REC'D  LD-URL 


MAR  2  2  1973 


^i'^r 


'"'''M/ 


*<( 


O 


'Vf#' 


Form  L9-Serie8  4939 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRARY  FACILITY 


A     001  041  442     3 


F 

W569ci 


